Nadine Olk

Although the genes essential for life have been identified in less complex model organisms, their elucidation in human cells has been hindered by technical barriers. We used extensive mutagenesis in haploid human cells to identify approximately 2000 genes required for optimal fitness under culture conditions. To study the principles of genetic interactions in human cells, we created a synthetic lethality network focused on the secretory pathway based exclusively on mutations. This revealed a genetic cross-talk governing Golgi homeostasis, an additional subunit of the human oligosaccharyltransferase complex, and a phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase β adaptor hijacked by viruses. The synthetic lethality map parallels observations made in yeast and projects a route forward to reveal genetic networks in diverse aspects of human cell biology.

Abstract Objective to assess reactogenicity and immunogenicity of heterologous prime-boost immunisations of ChAdOx1-nCoV19 (Vaxzevria, ChAdOx) followed by BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, BNT) compared to homologous BNT/BNT immunisation. Design prospective, observational cohort study. Setting unicenter study in a cohort of health care workers at a tertiary care center in Berlin, Germany. Participants 340 health care workers immunised between 27 December 2020 and 21 May 2021 at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany Main outcome measures the main outcomes were reactogenicity assessed on days one, three, five and seven post prime and boost vaccination, and immunogenicity measured by serum SARS-CoV-2 full spike-, spike S1-, and spike RBD-IgG, virus neutralisation capacity, anti-S1-IgG avidity, and T cell reactivity measured by Interferon gamma release assay at 3-4 weeks post prime and boost immunisation. Results Heterologous ChAdOx/BNT booster vaccination was overall well-tolerated and reactogenicity was largely comparable to homologous BNT/BNT vaccination. Systemic reactions were most frequent after prime immunisation with ChAdOx (86%, 95CI: 79-91), and less frequent after homologous BNT/BNT (65%, 95CI: 56-72), or heterologous ChAdOx/BNT booster vaccination (48%, 95CI: 36-59). Serum antibody responses and T cell reactivity were strongly increased after both homologous and heterologous boost, and immunogenicity was overall robust, and comparable between both regimens in this cohort, with slightly increased S1-IgG avidity and T cell responses following heterologous booster immunisation. Conclusions Evidence of rare thrombotic events associated with ChAdOx has led to recommendation of a heterologous booster with mRNA vaccines for certain age groups in several European countries, despite a lack of robust safety and immunogenicity data for this vaccine regimen. This interim analysis provides evidence that the currently recommended heterologous ChAdOx/BNT immunisation regimen with 10-12 week vaccine intervals is well tolerated and slightly more immunogenic compared to homologous BNT/BNT vaccination with three week vaccine intervals. Heterologous prime-boost immunisation for COVID-19 may be generally applicable to optimise logistics and improve immunogenicity and to mitigate potential intermittent supply shortages for individual vaccines.

Global healthcare systems are challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need to optimize allocation of treatment and resources in intensive care, as clinically established risk assessments such as SOFA and APACHE II scores show only limited performance for predicting the survival of severely ill COVID-19 patients. Additional tools are also needed to monitor treatment, including experimental therapies in clinical trials. Comprehensively capturing human physiology, we speculated that proteomics in combination with new data-driven analysis strategies could produce a new generation of prognostic discriminators. We studied two independent cohorts of patients with severe COVID-19 who required intensive care and invasive mechanical ventilation. SOFA score, Charlson comorbidity index, and APACHE II score showed limited performance in predicting the COVID-19 outcome. Instead, the quantification of 321 plasma protein groups at 349 timepoints in 50 critically ill patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation revealed 14 proteins that showed trajectories different between survivors and non-survivors. A predictor trained on proteomic measurements obtained at the first time point at maximum treatment level (i.e. WHO grade 7), which was weeks before the outcome, achieved accurate classification of survivors (AUROC 0.81). We tested the established predictor on an independent validation cohort (AUROC 1.0). The majority of proteins with high relevance in the prediction model belong to the coagulation system and complement cascade. Our study demonstrates that plasma proteomics can give rise to prognostic predictors substantially outperforming current prognostic markers in intensive care.

PURPOSE: Adequate patient allocation is pivotal for optimal resource management in strained healthcare systems, and requires detailed knowledge of clinical and virological disease trajectories. The purpose of this work was to identify risk factors associated with need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), to analyse viral kinetics in patients with and without IMV and to provide a comprehensive description of clinical course. METHODS: A cohort of 168 hospitalised adult COVID-19 patients enrolled in a prospective observational study at a large European tertiary care centre was analysed. RESULTS: Forty-four per cent (71/161) of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Shorter duration of symptoms before admission (aOR 1.22 per day less, 95% CI 1.10-1.37, p < 0.01) and history of hypertension (aOR 5.55, 95% CI 2.00-16.82, p < 0.01) were associated with need for IMV. Patients on IMV had higher maximal concentrations, slower decline rates, and longer shedding of SARS-CoV-2 than non-IMV patients (33 days, IQR 26-46.75, vs 18 days, IQR 16-46.75, respectively, p < 0.01). Median duration of hospitalisation was 9 days (IQR 6-15.5) for non-IMV and 49.5 days (IQR 36.8-82.5) for IMV patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate a short duration of symptoms before admission as a risk factor for severe disease that merits further investigation and different viral load kinetics in severely affected patients. Median duration of hospitalisation of IMV patients was longer than described for acute respiratory distress syndrome unrelated to COVID-19.