Immunology and Genetics Journal
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Sep 2022

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) leads to a various clinical and laboratory findings in affected patients. Similar to the previous outbreak, patients with SARS-CoV-2 showed elevated levels of D-dimer, thrombocytopenia, and prolonged prothrombin time and the activated partial thromboplastin time. Meanwhile two lethal coagulation disorders of disseminated intravascular coagulation and pulmonary embolism have already been reported in patients with SARS-CoV-2. Although further cohort studies are needed to document long-term complications, considering the similar pathogenicity of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, the same chronic cardiovascular impairments could be expected.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan (China). It soon became widespread so that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic crisis. This disease has caused significant morbidity and mortality in the world. Clinical studies reported that there is a significant correlation between genders, immunogenetic variants, serum levels of some circulating factors, blood groups, and different races with severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. Hence, some studies have investigated the role of individual genetic background in the susceptibility and vulnerability to COVID-19 infection. It is proposed that host genetic polymorphisms affect the onset and progression of COVID-19 infection and could dramatically impact the virus life cycle. This paper aims to review the state-of-the-art researches on the roles of genetic variants in host cell membrane proteins and blood circulation factors in the prognosis of patients with COVID-19.

Studies have shown that immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines are impaired in dialysis patients which may affect immunity to vaccines. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate SARS-COV-2 neutralizing antibodies in hemodialysis patients for 2 and 6 weeks after receiving inactivated Sinopharm vaccine.

In this study, 172 people were divided into two groups. The first group included 108 hemodialysis patients, while the second group included 64 health workers as a control group. In order to evaluate SARS-COV-2 neutralizing antibodies titers, the peripheral blood samples were collected from all participants 2 and 6 weeks after receiving the second dose of Sinopharm vaccine. Samples were centrifuged and the neutralizing antibody against receptor-binding domain (RBD) was determined using the indirect ELISA technique.

Hemodialysis patients had lower titers of IgG neutralizing antibodies compared to the control group (P <0.001). The titers of SARS-COV-2 neutralizing antibodies were not significantly different at 2 weeks in comparison with 6 weeks after vaccination (P=0.9204). Our findings showed a significant increase in titers of IgG neutralizing antibodies after vaccination in people with a history of COVID-19 (P=0.002). The seropositivity rate for neutralizing antibodies against RBD was significantly different between seropositive (immune) and seronegative (non-immune) patients 6 weeks after vaccination (P=0.022).

The titers of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-COV-2 were lower in hemodialysis patients than in healthy individuals. This is probably due to the poor immune system. However, patients who received two doses of inactivated Sinopharm vaccine showed a higher antibody titer 6 weeks after vaccination.