Detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare professionals of the national center during the COVID-19 pandemic (April–June 2020)

Objective. To identify IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare professionals of the National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology during the quarantine from April to June 2020. Materials and methods. The study included 1589 healthcare workers: 1293 professionals of ‘green zone’ and 926 medical staff of ‘red zone’. IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood serum were determined using SARS-CoV-2-IgG-ELISA kits (National Hematology Research Center, Russia). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was extracted from nasopharyngeal swabs using the kit PROBA-NK (DNA-technology, LLC, Russia). The virus was identified by RT-PCR using SARS-CoV-2/SARS-CoV Multiplex REAL-TIME PCR Detection Kit (DNA-technology, LLC, Russia). Results. IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were detected in 141 healthcare workers (8.9%), controversial results were revealed in 2 professionals, and 1445 (90.9%) workers had no antibodies, including 46 (3.2%) people who had the clinical symptoms of acute respiratory viral disease (ARVI) and identified SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Among healthcare workers with antibodies, the clinical symptoms of ARVI were revealed in 129 (91.5%) workers, they were also detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA; 23 (17.8%) people had clinical symptoms of ARVI but SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not extracted; 12 (8,5%) workers had neither clinical symptoms of ARVI nor detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Conclusion. The presence of IgG antibodies and the absence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the nasopharyngeal swab as well as clinical symptoms of the disease may be suggestive of the fact that the worker had this disease; the presence of IgG antibodies and the absence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA as well as clinical symptoms of the disease may be suggestive of the fact that the worker has this disease

The relationship of seminal transforming growth factor-β1 and interleukin-18 with reproductive success in women exposed to seminal plasma during IVF/ICSI treatment

It has been proposed that the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 present in seminal plasma (SP) triggers a female immune response favorable for implantation. We hypothesize that seminal interleukin (IL)-18, a cytokine that can potentially cause implantation failure, interferes with the beneficial effect of TGF-β1. This study aims to determine whether the levels of seminal TGF-β1 and IL-18 are associated with reproductive outcomes in patients exposed to SP during in vitro fertilization (IVF) or IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). A prospective study, which included 71 couples undergoing IVF/ICSI was carried out. Female patients were exposed to their partners’ SP via timed intercourse before the day of ovum pick-up (OPU) and also subjected to intravaginal SP application just after OPU. Quantitative measurements of total TGF-β1 (active plus latent) as well as IL-18 were determined by FlowCytomix™ technology in the SP to be used for intravaginal applications. Comparison of SP cytokine profiles between pregnant and non-pregnant groups revealed that pregnancy was correlated with a lower concentration of IL-18 (P = 0.018) and lower content per ejaculate for both of IL-18 (P = 0.0003) and TGF-β1 (P = 0.047). The ratio of TGF-β1-to-IL-18 concentration was significantly higher in the pregnant than in the non-pregnant group (P = 0.026). This study supports the notion that two key cytokines TGF-β1 and IL-18, both present in SP are associated with reproductive outcomes in female patients exposed to SP during IVF/ICSI treatment