Measurement invariance of the 10-item resilience scale specific to cancer in Americans and Chinese: A propensity score-based multidimensional item response theory analysis.

Objective: Little is known about the measurement invariance (MI) of resilience instruments in cancer care. This study was designed to examine MI of 10-Item Resilience Scale (RS-SC-10) in Americans and Chinese with cancer using propensity score-based multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) analysis. Methods: A sample of 924 patients were enrolled in the Be Resilient to Cancer trial involving 1 hospital in America and 3 hospitals in China. Data were collected from the RS-SC-10 and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Propensity score matching and MIRT were performed to evaluate Differential Item Function. Integrated Discrimination Improvement and Net Reclassification Improvement were used to indirectly estimate the MI through incremental prediction ability of MIRT-based score over total score. Results: RS-SC-10 retained 10 items with monotonous thresholds and its original two-factor structure. Nonuniform Differential Item Function was recognized in Item 4 (P â€‹= â€‹0.0011, Δ%ß1 â€‹= â€‹4.15%) and Item 8 (P â€‹= â€‹0.0017, Δ%ß1 â€‹= â€‹5.99%). Net Reclassification Improvement ranged from 9.04% to 35.01%, and Integrated Discrimination Improvement ranged from 8.82% to 20.60%. Conclusions: Although partial MI has been identified between Americans and Chinese, RS-SC-10 remains a critical indicator to emotional distress in cancer care.

Cross-reactivity of eight SARS-CoV-2 variants rationally predicts immunogenicity clustering in sarbecoviruses.

A steep rise in Omicron reinfection cases suggests that this variant has increased immune evasion ability. To evaluate its antigenicity relationship with other variants, antisera from guinea pigs immunized with spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) were cross-tested against pseudotyped variants. The neutralization activity against Omicron was markedly reduced when other VOCs or VOIs were used as immunogens, and Omicron (BA.1)-elicited sera did not efficiently neutralize the other variants. However, a Beta or Omicron booster, when administered as the 4th dose 3-months after the 3rd dose of any of the variants, could elicit broad neutralizing antibodies against all of the current variants including Omicron BA.1. Further analysis with 280 available antigen-antibody structures and quantification of immune escape from 715 reported neutralizing antibodies provide explanations for the observed differential immunogenicity. Three distinct clades predicted using an in silico algorithm for clustering of sarbecoviruses based on immune escape provide key information for rational design of vaccines.

Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.617: host tropism, proteolytic activation, cell-cell fusion, and neutralization sensitivity.

SARS-CoV-2 has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. B.1.617 variants (including Kappa and Delta) have been transmitted rapidly in India. The transmissibility, pathogenicity, and neutralization characteristics of these variants have received considerable interest. In this study, 22 pseudotyped viruses were constructed for B.1.617 variants and their corresponding single amino acid mutations. B.1.617 variants did not exhibit significant enhanced infectivity in human cells, but mutations T478K and E484Q in the receptor binding domain led to enhanced infectivity in mouse ACE2-overexpressing cells. Furin activities were slightly increased against B.1.617 variants and cell-cell fusion after infection of B.1.617 variants were enhanced. Furthermore, B.1.617 variants escaped neutralization by several mAbs, mainly because of mutations L452R, T478K, and E484Q in the receptor binding domain. The neutralization activities of sera from convalescent patients, inactivated vaccine-immunized volunteers, adenovirus vaccine-immunized volunteers, and SARS-CoV-2 immunized animals against pseudotyped B.1.617 variants were reduced by approximately twofold, compared with the D614G variant.

Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity response to SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients.

Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) responses to viral infection are a form of antibody regulated immune responses mediated through the Fc fragment. Whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) triggered ADCC responses contributes to COVID-19 disease development is currently not well understood. To understand the potential correlation between ADCC responses and COVID-19 disease development, we analyzed the ADCC activity and neutralizing antibody response in 255 individuals ranging from asymptomatic to fatal infections over 1 year post disease. ADCC was elicited by 10 days post-infection, peaked by 11-20 days, and remained detectable until 400 days post-infection. In general, patients with severe disease had higher ADCC activities. Notably, patients who had severe disease and recovered had higher ADCC activities than patients who had severe disease and deceased. Importantly, ADCC activities were mediated by a diversity of epitopes in SARS-COV-2-infected mice and induced to comparable levels against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1) as that against the D614G mutant in human patients and vaccinated mice. Our study indicates anti-SARS-CoV-2 ADCC as a major trait of COVID-19 patients with various conditions, which can be applied to estimate the extra-neutralization level against COVID-19, especially lethal COVID-19.