London, Ont. research team looking to discover new COVID-19 treatment through blood proteins – London

Researchers at the Lawson Health Science Institute in London, Ont., are combining new technologies to examine blood proteins in COVID-19[feminine] patients to try to find another form of treatment.

According to the study published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicinea Lawson team discovered “unique plasma protein patterns in critically ill patients that may help develop a more personalized approach to treating severe COVID-19.”

Known as the plasma proteome, the proteins studied are released by cells, which often play an important role in the body’s immune response to viruses, the researchers noted.

But Lawson scientist Dr Douglas Fraser, a critical care physician at LHSC Children’s Hospital and a professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, said COVID-19 is not a typical virus when it comes to treatment.

“It’s a new virus, it’s very transmissible, it moves very quickly, it mutates frequently, and it causes a strong immune response in the body that happens very soon after infection,” he explained. “So by the time people show up at the hospital, the infection is usually already firmly in the body.”

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

Described in the study, blood samples were taken from 30 subjects in three patient groups at LHSC. One group had patients with COVID-19, the second had patients with severe infections but tested negative for COVID-19, and the third was a “healthy control group.”

Blood samples were then taken on the day each patient was admitted to intensive care and again on days three, seven and 10 in hospital.

“We collected plasma from these patients and measured over a thousand proteins with high precision using a new technology that combines immunology and genomics,” Fraser said. “Through the use of this advanced technology, we have been able to better analyze protein patterns and better understand what is happening with COVID-19, especially in critically ill patients.

“We can start mixing up what’s happening in people during their COVID-19 infection at different times and we can see which drugs are most likely to interrupt ongoing processes,” he continued. “It gives us the opportunity to better understand the disease, but also, in a very rational way, to determine which drugs could really prove useful in terms of intervention.”

The team found through the study that patients with COVID-19 exhibit “changes in immunosuppressive pathways, which typically maintain balance in the immune system.”

In critically ill patients, the changes would have been accentuated. Plasma proteome analyzes helped researchers “determine which body cells are active during the disease state and which signaling pathways have been activated,” the study explains.

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“In-depth analysis of the human plasma proteome helps us capture tissue proteins that can provide us with information about organ integrity during infection,” Lawson research associate Cristiana Losef said in a statement. “This is important because it will allow us to search for new blood biomarkers specific to COVID-19 patients.”

Fraser added that the next step in the study “is to look at drugs that show promise that haven’t been used before, and then decide which ones could reasonably be tried in a clinical trial to see if they really interrupt the process and help the patient improve.

Additionally, the next steps for the research team will be to use the technology to “examine plasma biomarkers in long COVID-19 patients” to determine why some develop prolonged disease after infection.

“This study allowed us to understand the progression of disease processes in very ill patients, giving us clues about the body’s immune system and other systems that were responding to severe illness,” said Dr. Victor Han. , Lawson scientist, director of CHRI and professor at Schulich Medicine and Dentistry.

“We hope this knowledge will allow us to identify patients who will become seriously ill and develop new therapies to counteract the changes taking place in their bodies.”

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