[The burden of COVID-19 in a heterogeneous population of immunocompromised patients - realities of the postpandemic].

On July 3, 2023, an interdisciplinary Council of Experts "The burden of COVID-19 in a heterogeneous population of immunocompromised patients - post-pandemic realities" was held in Moscow with leading experts in pulmonology, rheumatology, hematology, oncology, nephrology, allergology-immunology, transplantation, and infectious diseases. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the current clinical and epidemiologic situation related to COVID-19, the relevance of disease prevention strategies for high-risk patients. The experts addressed the following issues: 1) the disease burden of COVID-19 in 2023 for patients with immunodeficiency in different therapeutic areas; 2) the place of passive immunization with monoclonal antibodies as a method of COVID-19 prophylaxis among immunocompromised patients; 3) prerequisites for the inclusion of passive immunization of immunocompromised patients into routine clinical practice.

[Use of a combination of the virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab for mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients at high risk of progression: Results of the non-interventional observational study].

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a combination of virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies - MAB (casirivimab and imdevimab) in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 with risk factors in real word settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A non-interventional non-comparative observational study with primary prospective data collection included 108 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 (mean age 61 years), who had risk factors for developing severe disease. All patients (n=108) were treated with a combination of MAB casirivimab and imdevimab intravenous single infusion 1200 mg (600 mg of each component). The efficacy and safety of MAB were assessed at 7, 14, and 28 days after infusion. RESULTS: Efficacy. Indications for hospitalization by day 7 from the moment of MAB administration were in 0.9% (n=1), by day 14 - in 1.9% (n=2), by day 28 - in 0.9% of patients; to stay in the intensive care units by the 7th day - in 4.6% (n=5), by the 14th day - in 0.9% (n=1), by the 28th day - in 0.9% (n=1) patients. During 28 days of follow up, the need for mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was registered in 2/108 (1.8%) patients. There were no deaths directly related to COVID-19 in the assessed cohort of patients. Safety. By the 28th day of the follow up, no adverse effects due to MAB therapy were registered. CONCLUSION: An analysis of the results of a non-interventional observational study summarized in this article showed the high efficacy and safety of virus-neutralizing MAB combination (casirivimab and imdevimab) in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 with of risk factors for severe COVID-19 in real word settings.

[Efficacy and safety of regdanvimab in patients with mild/moderate COVID-19 and high risk of progression of the disease: a retrospective study in a short-term stay unit].

BACKGROUND: The use of virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies is an effective method of etiotropic therapy for SARS-CoV-2 in patients of high-risk groups of severe COVID-19. Regdanvimab is a single-component monoclonal antibodies immunoglobulin G1, whose mechanism of action is aimed at binding SARS-CoV-2 virus at the RBD site of the spike protein S1 domain. In the Russian Federation, regdanvimab is approved for emergency administration in COVID-19 for adult patients not requiring respiratory therapy who are at high risk of developing a severe course of the disease. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of therapy with regdanvimab in patients with mild/moderate COVID-19 in a short-term hospital unit. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Virus-neutralizing therapy with regdanvimab was performed at the short-term hospital unit of the Moscow City Clinic. An open retrospective observational single-center study included 92 adult patients with mild/moderate coronavirus infection. All patients had comorbid chronic diseases and belonged to the high-risk group for the development of a severe COVID-19. INCLUSION CRITERIA: age 18 to 75 years; presence of a verified diagnosis of COVID-19 of mild/moderate COVID-19, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed; one or more chronic diseases; first 7 days from the onset of the first symptoms of COVID-19 (including day 7). EXCLUSION CRITERIA: need for oxygen support. Clinical efficacy was assessed according to the World Health Organization Сlinical Progression Scale and supplemented with laboratory markers at baseline and in dynamics, as well as with monitoring of virus elimination by PCR. STATISTICS: Calculations were performed using the statistical computing environment R 4.1.3 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Austria). For quantitative indices the median (1; 3 quartiles) was indicated. For binomial signs we calculated 95% confidence intervals according to Wilson's method. Time interval analysis was performed according to the KaplanMeier method. The significance level was determined at p0.05. RESULTS: A significant decrease in the severity of clinical manifestations according to the World Health Organization Clinical Progression Scale was noted by patients by day 4 after regdanvimab administration. All 92 patients in the cohort were discharged from the hospital l on average on day 5 after regdanvimab administration and on day 9 of the disease. On day 4 after drug administration 82% of patients was being PCR negative. No adverse events related to the administration of regdanvimab were reported during the study. CONCLUSION: In real clinical practice, the efficacy and safety of regdanvimab in patients at high risk of severe COVID-19 was confirmed once again, with a positive clinical result observed in a mixed cohort by the causative agent omicron and delta strain.

[Contribution of non-HLA genes to juvenile idiopathic arthritis susceptibility].

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JAL4) is the most common chronic rheumatologic disease in children. JIA is a group of disorders that share the clinical manifestation of chronic joint inflammation. The Human Leukocyte Antigen region (HLA) seems to be a major susceptibility locus for JIA that is estimated to account for 17% of familial segregation of the disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS), case-control studies and meta-analyses of the post-GWAS era revealed over 20 non-HLA loci conferring susceptibility to JIA. At least a half of those are shared between JIA and rheumatoid arthritis, an adult rheumatic disease, thereby suggesting for similarity of pathogenic mechanisms of both diseases. New findings also suggest for a likely role of epigenetic alterations in the pathogenesis of JIA that should be investigated in the future.