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Severe acute herpes virus type 2 primo-infection and its association with anti-type 1 interferon autoantibodies

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Abstract

Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is a common cause of infection, which is usually self-limited and asymptomatic. A 71-year-old patient with HSV-2 primo-infection developed acute hepatitis and secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. The patient had high levels of autoantibodies against type I interferon (IFN) (> 1000 ng/mL), neutralizing high concentration (10 ng/mL) of both IFN-α and IFN-ω but not IFN-β. Anti-IFN-I auto-antibodies are rarely observed in healthy individuals; however, their prevalence increases in individuals over 70 years of age and have been identified as a cause of some severe viral diseases, including critical COVID-19. Considering the function of IFN-I in innate immunity, the pathological role of these autoantibodies in severe viral diseases following primo-infections in elderly patient appears crucial.

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Fig. 1
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Data Availability

The datas analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Lucy Bizien and Paul Bastard for their help in the determination of auto-Abs against IFN-I and functional assays.

The Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Rockefeller University, the St. Giles Foundation, the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the “Investments for the Future” program (ANR-10-IAHU-01), the Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory of Excellence (ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID), the French Foundation for Medical Research (FRM) (EQU201903007798), ANR AI2D (ANR-22-CE15-0046), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 824110 (EASI-genomics), the HORIZON-HLTH-2021-DISEASE-04 program under grant agreement 01057100 (UNDINE), the ANR-RHU COVIFERON Program (ANR-21-RHUS-08), William E. Ford, General Atlantic’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gabriel Caillaux, General Atlantic’s Co-President, Managing Director and Head of business in EMEA, and the General Atlantic Foundation, the Square Foundation, /Grandir—Fonds de solidarité pour l’enfance/, the /Fondation du Souffle/, the SCOR Corporate Foundation for Science, Battersea & Bowery Advisory Group, The French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation (MESRI-COVID-19), Institut Nationalde la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), REACTing-INSERM, and the University of Paris Cité.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious Diseases Department, Hôpitaux Civils de Colmar, 39 Avenue de La Liberté 68024, CEDEX, Colmar, France

    Martin Martinot, Simon Gravier & Mahsa Mohseni-Zadeh

  2. Immunology Department, Lyon Sud Hospital Hospices Civils de Lyon, Pierre-Bénite, Lyon, France

    Nicole Fabien & David Goncalves

  3. Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, Necker Branch, INSERM U1163, Necker Hospital for Sick Children, Paris, France

    Jean-Laurent Casanova & Anne Puel

  4. University Paris Cité, Imagine Institute, Paris, France

    Jean-Laurent Casanova & Anne Puel

  5. St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, Rockefeller Branch, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

    Jean-Laurent Casanova & Anne Puel

  6. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Jean-Laurent Casanova

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Necker Hospital for Sick Children, APHP, Paris, France

    Jean-Laurent Casanova

Authors
  1. Martin Martinot
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  2. Simon Gravier
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  3. Mahsa Mohseni-Zadeh
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  4. Nicole Fabien
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  7. David Goncalves
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Contributions

MM wrote the manuscript. DG, AP, and NF performed the dosage of auto-Abs against IFN-I and functional assays. All authors have revised and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Martinot.

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Ethics approval

Ethics committee approval for this study was waived because it is a single-case study.

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Written informed consent was obtained from the patient.

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The participant has consented to the submission of the case report to the journal.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Martinot, M., Gravier, S., Mohseni-Zadeh, M. et al. Severe acute herpes virus type 2 primo-infection and its association with anti-type 1 interferon autoantibodies. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 42, 1531–1535 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-023-04688-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-023-04688-5

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