Scientists find difference in blood of severe, mild COVID-19 patients

LONDON: Researchers have identified proteins in the blood of COVID-19 patients which are linked to the disease severity, an advance that may lead to markers that provide information on the progression of their illness.

The scientists, including those from the University of Cambridge in the UK, said people respond very differently to infection with the novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2. While some patients develop no symptoms at all, they said others may get severe disease and even die.

In the current study, published in the journal Cell Systems, the researchers assessed the blood component called plasma in COVID-19 patients for ‘biomarkers’ which could provide a reliable way to predict disease progression and severity.

The scientists, led by Markus Ralser from the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, used stateof-the-art analytical techniques to rapidly determine the levels of various proteins in the plasma component of COVID19 patient blood samples.

Using this approach, they identified various protein biomarkers in the blood plasma of patients with COVID-19 which were linked to the severity of their disease. In the study, the researchers analysed blood plasma samples from 31 men and women who were receiving treatment for COVID-19 of varying degrees of severity.

They noted 27 proteins in the blood of the patients which varied in quantity depending on disease severity.

According to the study, the researchers also validated these molecular signatures by analysing samples from another group of 17 COVID-19 patients and 15 healthy people.

Using these protein signatures, the scientists were able to precisely classify patients according to the World Health Organization’s coding criteria for COVID-19.

“These results lay the foundations for two very different applications. One possible future use would be for disease prognosis,” explained Ralser.

He said an early blood test would enable the treating physician to predict whether or not a patient with COVID-19 will develop severe symptoms.

According to the scientists, the findings could help save lives.

The sooner physicians know which patients will require intensive care, the faster they can make use of the available treatment options, they said.

“Another possible future use would be as an in-hospital diagnostic test, which could provide clarity regarding a patient’s condition -- regardless of how they themselves describe it,” Ralser said.

“In some cases, a patient’s symptoms do not appear to provide an accurate picture of their true health status. An objective evaluation, based on their biomarker profile, could be extremely valuable in this regard,” he added.