Healthcare Workers Bioresource: Study outline and baseline characteristics of a prospective healthcare worker cohort to study immune protection and pathogenesis in COVID-19

João B Augusto; Katia Menacho; Mervyn Andiapen; Ruth Bowles; Maudrian Burton; Sophie Welch; Anish N Bhuva; Andreas Seraphim; Corinna Pade; George Joy; Melanie Jensen; Rhodri H Davies; Gabriella Captur; Marianna Fontana; Hugh Montgomery; Ben O'Brien; Aroon D Hingorani; Teresa Cutino-Moguel; Áine McKnight; Hakam Abbass; Mashael Alfarih; Zoe Alldis; Georgina L Baca; Alex Boulter; Olivia V Bracken; Natalie Bullock; Nicola Champion; Carmen Chan; Xose Couto-Parada; Keenan Dieobi-Anene; Karen Feehan; Gemma Figtree; Melanie C Figtree; Malcolm Finlay; Nasim Forooghi; Joseph M Gibbons; Peter Griffiths; Matt Hamblin; Lee Howes; Ivie Itua; Meleri Jones; Victor Jardim; Vikas Kapil; Wing-Yiu Jason Lee; Vineela Mandadapu; Celina Mfuko; Oliver Mitchelmore; Susana Palma; Kush Patel; Steffen E Petersen; Brian Piniera; Rosalind Raine; Alicja Rapala; Amy Richards; Genine Sambile; Jorge Couto de Sousa; Michelle Sugimoto; George D Thornton; Jessica Artico; Dan Zahedi; Ruth Parker; Mathew Robathan; Lauren M Hickling; Ntobeko Ntusi; Amanda Semper; Tim Brooks; Jessica Jones; Art Tucker; Jessry Veerapen; Mohit Vijayakumar; Theresa Wodehouse; Lucinda Wynne; Thomas A Treibel; Mahdad Noursadeghi; Charlotte Manisty; James C Moon

doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16051.2

Healthcare Workers Bioresource: Study outline and baseline characteristics of a prospective healthcare worker cohort to study immune protection and pathogenesis in COVID-19

Wellcome Open Res. 2020 Oct 12:5:179. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16051.2. eCollection 2020.

Authors

João B Augusto^{1

2}, Katia Menacho^{1

2}, Mervyn Andiapen^{2

3}, Ruth Bowles^{2

3}, Maudrian Burton^{2

4

5}, Sophie Welch², Anish N Bhuva^{1

2}, Andreas Seraphim^{1

2}, Corinna Pade^{4

6}, George Joy^{1

2}, Melanie Jensen², Rhodri H Davies^{1

2}, Gabriella Captur^{1

7

8}, Marianna Fontana^{1

7}, Hugh Montgomery⁹, Ben O'Brien^{2

4}, Aroon D Hingorani¹, Teresa Cutino-Moguel¹⁰, Áine McKnight⁶, Hakam Abbass², Mashael Alfarih^{1

2}, Zoe Alldis², Georgina L Baca², Alex Boulter², Olivia V Bracken¹¹, Natalie Bullock², Nicola Champion², Carmen Chan², Xose Couto-Parada¹⁰, Keenan Dieobi-Anene², Karen Feehan¹¹, Gemma Figtree¹², Melanie C Figtree¹², Malcolm Finlay², Nasim Forooghi², Joseph M Gibbons⁶, Peter Griffiths¹³, Matt Hamblin², Lee Howes¹, Ivie Itua², Meleri Jones¹⁴, Victor Jardim², Vikas Kapil^{2

4}, Wing-Yiu Jason Lee⁶, Vineela Mandadapu², Celina Mfuko², Oliver Mitchelmore², Susana Palma², Kush Patel^{1

2}, Steffen E Petersen^{2

4

5}, Brian Piniera², Rosalind Raine¹⁵, Alicja Rapala¹, Amy Richards², Genine Sambile², Jorge Couto de Sousa², Michelle Sugimoto¹¹, George D Thornton^{1

2}, Jessica Artico², Dan Zahedi¹⁶, Ruth Parker¹⁶, Mathew Robathan⁴, Lauren M Hickling¹⁷, Ntobeko Ntusi¹⁸, Amanda Semper¹⁹, Tim Brooks¹⁹, Jessica Jones¹⁹, Art Tucker^{2

4}, Jessry Veerapen², Mohit Vijayakumar², Theresa Wodehouse², Lucinda Wynne², Thomas A Treibel^{1

2}, Mahdad Noursadeghi²⁰, Charlotte Manisty^{1

2}, James C Moon^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK.
² Barts Heart Centre, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK, London, UK.
³ Centre for Cardiovascular Medicine and Devices, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁴ William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁵ NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.
⁶ The Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK.
⁷ Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
⁸ MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, London, UK.
⁹ Centre for Human Health and Performance, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Virology, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.
¹¹ Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
¹² Royal North Shore Hospital; The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
¹³ School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton & NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), Wessex, UK.
¹⁴ Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine, Centre for Cancer Prevention, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Applied Health Research, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁶ School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁷ East London NHS Foundation Trust Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Newham Centre for Mental Health, London, UK.
¹⁸ Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁹ Public Health England, Porton Down, UK.
²⁰ Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK.

Abstract

Background: Most biomedical research has focused on sampling COVID-19 patients presenting to hospital with advanced disease, with less focus on the asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic. We established a bioresource with serial sampling of health care workers (HCWs) designed to obtain samples before and during mainly mild disease, with follow-up sampling to evaluate the quality and duration of immune memory. Methods: We conducted a prospective study on HCWs from three hospital sites in London, initially at a single centre (recruited just prior to first peak community transmission in London), but then extended to multiple sites 3 weeks later (recruitment still ongoing, target n=1,000). Asymptomatic participants attending work complete a health questionnaire, and provide a nasal swab (for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by RT-PCR tests) and blood samples (mononuclear cells, serum, plasma, RNA and DNA are biobanked) at 16 weekly study visits, and at 6 and 12 months. Results: Preliminary baseline results for the first 731 HCWs (400 single-centre, 331 multicentre extension) are presented. Mean age was 38±11 years; 67% are female, 31% nurses, 20% doctors, and 19% work in intensive care units. COVID-19-associated risk factors were: 37% black, Asian or minority ethnicities; 18% smokers; 13% obesity; 11% asthma; 7% hypertension and 2% diabetes mellitus. At baseline, 41% reported symptoms in the preceding 2 weeks. Preliminary test results from the initial cohort (n=400) are available: PCR at baseline for SARS-CoV-2 was positive in 28 of 396 (7.1%, 95% CI 4.9-10.0%) and 15 of 385 (3.9%, 2.4-6.3%) had circulating IgG antibodies. Conclusions: This COVID-19 bioresource established just before the peak of infections in the UK will provide longitudinal assessments of incident infection and immune responses in HCWs through the natural time course of disease and convalescence. The samples and data from this bioresource are available to academic collaborators by application https://covid-consortium.com/application-for-samples/.

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare workers; pandemic.

Abstract

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