PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - May Y Choi AU - Ann Elaine Clarke AU - Katherine Buhler AU - Michelle Jung AU - Hannah Mathew AU - Meifeng Zhang AU - Francesca S Cardwell AU - Heather Waldhauser AU - Marvin J Fritzler TI - Cytokine autoantibodies in SARS-CoV-2 prepandemic and intrapandemic samples from an SLE cohort AID - 10.1136/lupus-2022-000667 DP - 2022 Apr 01 TA - Lupus Science & Medicine PG - e000667 VI - 9 IP - 1 4099 - http://lupus.bmj.com/content/9/1/e000667.short 4100 - http://lupus.bmj.com/content/9/1/e000667.full SO - Lupus Sci Med2022 Apr 01; 9 AB - Cytokine autoantibodies, particularly those directed to type I interferon (T1IFN), have been reported to portend an increased risk of severe COVID-19. Since SLE is one of the conditions historically associated with T1IFN autoantibodies, we sought to determine the prevalence of cytokine autoantibodies in our local cohort of 173 patients with SLE prepandemic and intrapandemic, of which nine had confirmed exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Autoantibodies to 16 different cytokines, including T1IFN, were measured by an addressable laser bead immunoassay. None of the 9 patients with confirmed exposure to SARS-CoV-2 had autoantibodies to T1IFN and none had severe COVID-19 symptoms, necessitating hospitalisation. Hence, we could not confirm that TIIFN autoantibodies increase the risk for severe COVID-19. In addition, the cytokine autoantibody pattern did not differ between those with and without evidence of SARS-CoV-2 exposure.