Longitudinal Analysis of Neutralizing Potency against SARS-CoV-2 in the Recovered Patients after Treatment with or without Favipiravir

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 670
• Main Authors: Shinada, Kanako, Sato, Takashi, Moriyama, Saya, Adachi, Yu, Shinoda, Masahiro, Ota, Shinichiro, Morikawa, Miwa, Mineshita, Masamichi, Matsumura, Takayuki, Takahashi, Yoshimasa, Shinkai, Masaharu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24.03.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Amides - therapeutic use; Antibodies; Antibodies, Neutralizing - metabolism; Antibodies, Viral; Antiviral drugs; Body mass index; Clinical trials; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 Drug Treatment; Disease; favipiravir; FDA approval; Gender; Hospitals; Humans; Immunoglobulin G; Infections; Influenza; neutralization breadth index; Neutralization Tests; neutralizing antibody; neutralizing potency index; Nucleoside analogs; Patients; Plasma; Pneumonia; Polymerase chain reaction; Pyrazines - therapeutic use; RNA polymerase; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - genetics; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - metabolism; Spike protein; United States > US; Japan; COVID-19; neutralizing antibody; SARS-CoV-2; neutralization breadth index; neutralizing potency index; favipiravir
• DOI: 10.3390/v14040670
• ISSN: 1999-4915

The effect of treatment with favipiravir, an antiviral purine nucleoside analog, for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the production and duration of neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 was explored. There were 17 age-, gender-, and body mass index-matched pairs of favipiravir treated versus control selected from a total of 99 patients recovered from moderate COVID-19. These subjects participated in the longitudinal (>6 months) analysis of (i) SARS-CoV-2 spike protein’s receptor-binding domain IgG, (ii) virus neutralization assay using authentic virus, and (iii) neutralization potency against original (WT) SARS-CoV-2 and cross-neutralization against B.1.351 (beta) variant carrying triple mutations of K417N, E484K, and N501Y. The results demonstrate that the use of favipiravir: (1) significantly accelerated the elimination of SARS-CoV-2 in the case vs. control groups (p = 0.027), (2) preserved the generation and persistence of neutralizing antibodies in the host, and (3) did not interfere the maturation of neutralizing potency of anti-SARS-CoV-2 and neutralizing breadth against SARS-CoV-2 variants. In conclusion, treatment of COVID-19 with favipiravir accelerates viral clearance and does not interfere the generation or maturation of neutralizing potency against both WT SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.