Background/Case Studies: COVID-19 Convalescent plasma (CCP) has been used for therapy in severely symptomatic COVID-19 patients Pathogen reduction (PR) has been proposed to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infectious agents We investigate the impact of A/UVA on nAbs and anti-NP (IgM, IgG and IgA) PR treatment of CCP units Study Design/Methods: Plasmapheresis CCP units (600 mL) were collected from a cohort of previously confirmed male RT-PCR positive [+ve] COVID-19 mild/ moderate convalescent patients, all first-time and nonremunerated volunteers, with &gt;14 days after full recovery of symptoms CCP units were treated with INTERCEPT Blood System (Cerus Corporation, Concord, USA) according to manufacturer's instructions, either individually or pooled two by two After treatment, units were separated into 200 mL doses Pre- and post-PR treatment samples were harvested and kept at 4oC for 3-5 days prior to testing for nAb titers using a CPE-based virus neutralization assay (GenBank: MT MT350282), and specific IgM, IgG and IgA anti-NP antibodies by ELISA Results/Findings: A total of 16 individual and 94 pooled units were treated (n =110 CCP donations), rendering 330 x 200 mL treated CCP therapeutic doses There were no statistical differences in samples harvested before versus after A/UVA treatment (all p&gt;0 05, Wilcoxon test) for nAb titers or IgM, IgG and IgA anti-NP absorbance levels, as shown in the table Conclusions: Anti-NP IgM, IgG, IgA, and nAbs are not adversely impacted by A/UVA treatment, suggesting this PR technology can be employed to mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections after collection of CCP donors, who are often first time blood donors With most CCP units destined to treat older, immunosuppressed patients with several comorbidities, the use of A/UVA PR treatment is not only safe and recommended, while preserving anti-SARSCoV- 2 antibodies in CCP units
Preservation of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies (nAb) or anti-nucleocapsid proteins (NP) in convalescent donor plasma (CCP) Treated with Amotosalen/UVA Illumination (A/UVA)