In a new study from the University of Illinois Chicago, researchers found new evidence that people with severe COVID-19 may have something in common:
An early and persistent activation of neutrophils, a type of white blood cells that the immune system uses to fight bacteria.
They made this observation after first building and validating a computational model to identify trends in gene expression over time and then applying it to datasets of SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals and people.
In the study, the team developed the TrendCatcher software to identify trends in gene expression data obtained from a broad range of patients, including those who developed only mild symptoms as well as those who had severe disease.
They analyzed publicly available gene expression data from blood samples collected from patients as soon as they were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as in the subsequent weeks.
The researchers found the early and persistent activation of neutrophils was a hallmark of patients who progressed to severe COVID-19.
Activation of neutrophils occurred within the first week after the initial diagnosis and persisted for approximately four weeks in patients who developed COVID-19.
In some severe COVID-19 patients, neutrophils remained active for up to six or seven weeks. Patients with mild COVID-19 showed minimal neutrophil activation.
The researchers also found that healthy immune responses included upregulation of interferon protein signaling, an antiviral defense mechanism of the human body.
Patients with mild COVID-19 showed early activation of the interferon pathway, similar to what was seen in individuals receiving a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination.
The findings reported in this study could potentially form the basis of developing or delivering COVID-19 therapies that are appropriate for a given time window.
This evidence also helps to support other studies that suggest excessive neutrophil activation may explain why some patients develop severe COVID-19 whereas others do not.
If you care about COVID, please read studies about COVID vaccination less effective for people with these health problems, and findings of vitamin D deficiency linked to severe COVID-19 and death.
For more information about COVID, please see recent studies about the cause of inflammation and clotting in severe COVID-19, and results showing that almost 1 in 3 older people develop new health problems after COVID-19 infection.
The study is published in JCI Insight and was conducted by Dr. Jalees Rehman et al.
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