Homologous protein domains in SARS-CoV-2 and measles, mumps and rubella viruses: preliminary evidence that MMR vaccine might provide protection against COVID-19

Robin Franklin; Adam Young; Bjoern Neumann; Rocio Fernandez; Alexis Joannides; Amir Reyahi; Yorgo Modis

The copyright holder for this preprint . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.10.20053207 doi: medRxiv preprint load, responsible for disease severity, is driving a high antibody response. Equally, however, as with DV, the presence of higher concentrations of antibodies could exacerbate disease burden if the antibodies were not neutralising in nature [Halstead, 2007] . Here the increased severity of secondary infections is believed to be a result, at least partially, from antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of DV infection, in which FcγR engagement by antibody-virus immune complexes facilitates virus entry into susceptible myeloid cell types [Halstead et al., 2003] . Interestingly, Balsitis et al., [2010] demonstrated that even when antibody levels were neutralising in vitro, cross-reactive polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies all enhanced disease in vivo. However, they also report complete elimination of viraemia with high-dose serotype-specific antibodies. Thus, we hypothesise that the administration of normal human immunoglobulin (NHIG) which contains antibodies against all three viruses would have the potential to rescue severe COVID-19 infection if administered in a timely fashion.