Most people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop no or only mild symptoms.
However, some patients suffer severe life-threatening cases of COVID-19 and require intensive medical care and a ventilator to help them breathe.
Many of these patients eventually succumb to the disease or suffer significant long-term health consequences.
In a new study from the University of Zurich, researchers discovered such a biomarker – the number of natural killer T cells in the blood. These cells are a type of white blood cell and part of the early immune response.
They found the number of natural killer T cells in the blood can be used to predict severe cases of COVID-19 with a high degree of certainty – even on a patient’s first day in hospital.
The new biomarker test helps clinicians decide which organizational and treatment measures need to be taken for patients with COVID-19, such as transfer to the ICU, frequency of oxygen measurements, type of therapy and treatment start.
The rapid deterioration in the health of COVID-19 patients is caused by an overreaction of the body’s immune system.
The body produces small proteins called cytokines at a much higher rate, which leads to a ‘cytokine storm’ and triggers massive inflammation. Immune cells invade the lungs, where they disrupt gas exchange.
To detect the immune cells and cytokines in patient samples, the UZH researchers used high-dimensional cytometry.
This technology enables researchers to characterize many surfaces and intracellular proteins in millions of individual cells and process them using computer algorithms.
The researchers also analyzed blood samples of patients with severe pneumonia driven by a pathogen other than the novel coronavirus.
By comparing the immune responses in COVID-19 patients with those of the control group, they were able to determine the unique characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 immune response.
The team says the immune responses to the various pneumonia are very similar and part of the body’s general inflammatory response, as often observed in patients in intensive care.
When it comes to COVID-19, however, T cells and natural killer cells display a unique behavior and describe a kind of pattern in the immune system – the immune signature specific to COVID-19.
If you care about COVID-19, please read studies about this vitamin deficiency could strongly increase risk of COVID-19 and findings of the cause of high COVID-19 death rates in men and older people.
For more information about COVID-19 treatment and prevention, please see recent studies about two root causes of severe COVID-19 and results showing that this common eye disease linked to a much higher risk of severe COVID-19.
The study is published in Immunity. One author of the study is Professor Burkhard Becher.
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