London, Ontario.Research team looking to discover new COVID-19 treatments via blood proteins – London

Researchers at the Lawson Health Sciences Institute in London, Ontario, are using a combination of new techniques to look at proteins in the blood. COVID-19 (new coronavirus infectious disease) Patients trying to discover alternative treatments.

According to a study published in Journal of Cellular and Molecular MedicineLawson’s team found “unique patterns of plasma proteins in critically ill patients that may help develop more individualized approaches to treat severe COVID-19.”

Researchers point out that the proteins under study, known as the plasma proteome, are released from cells and often play a key role in the body’s immune response to viruses.

But Dr. Douglas Fraser, a Lawson scientist, an emergency physician at LHSC Children’s Hospital, and a professor at Western University’s Schulich College of Medicine and Dentistry, said COVID-19 is not a typical virus when it comes to treatment. says no.

“It’s a new virus that’s highly contagious, moves around very quickly, mutates frequently, and causes a strong immune response in the body very early after infection,” he explained. , By the time people come to the hospital, the infection usually has already had a considerable effect on the body.”

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Fraser added that antiviral drugs and supportive care are most often used to treat COVID-19. However, in studying the proteins found in his blood, the research team is also studying how the proteins adapt and change to his COVID-19 infection.

Blood samples were collected from 30 subjects in three patient groups with LHSC as outlined in this study. One group had a patient with COVID-19, a second group had a patient with a severe infection but he tested negative for COVID-19, and a third had a patient with severe infection. was the ‘healthy control group’.

Blood samples were then collected on the day of each patient’s critical care admission and on hospital days 3, 7, and 10.

“We took plasma from these patients and used a new technique that combines immunology and genomics to measure well over 1,000 proteins with great precision,” said Fraser. “Using this advanced technique, we were able to better analyze protein patterns and better understand what is happening with COVID-19, especially in critically ill patients.

“We can start blending what’s happening to people at different points in their COVID-19 infection and know which drugs are most likely to disrupt the ongoing process.” he continued. “It gives us the opportunity to better understand the disease, but also to determine in a very rational way which drugs are actually useful in terms of intervention. “

Through their research, the team found that COVID-19 patients exhibited “alterations in immunosuppressive pathways that normally keep the immune system in balance.”

In critically ill patients, increased changes have been reported. Analysis of the plasma proteome helped researchers “determine which cells in the body are active and which signaling pathways are activated in disease states.”

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“A detailed analysis of the human plasma proteome will help capture tissue proteins that can provide information about organ integrity during infection,” Lawson researcher Christiana Losev said in a statement. “This is important because it will allow us to search for new blood biomarkers specific to COVID-19 patients.”

The next step in this research, Fraser said, is to “look at drugs that look promising and haven’t been used before, and decide which ones might make sense to try in clinical trials, and then determine if they really work. It’s to see if we interrupt the process…to help the patient improve.”

Additionally, the researchers’ next step is to use the technology to “examine plasma biomarkers in long-standing COVID-19 patients” to identify why some people develop long-term illness after infection. That’s it.

“This study allowed us to understand the progression of the disease process in critically ill patients and provided clues about the body’s immune system and other systems that were responding to severe disease.” Professor.

“We hope that this knowledge will allow us to identify patients who develop severe disease and develop new treatments to counteract the changes occurring in their bodies.”

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