New studies published in Science and the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology suggest that a reduction of interferon type I in the blood may provide a means for detecting patients at the greatest risk for dysregulation of the inflammatory response and detection of a cytokine storm earlier in the disease cascade.
The journals also provide a rationale for new early intervention and treatment strategies.
An estimated one-in-five patients will develop a severe or critical form of COVID-19. Experts believe this can be traced to an overproduction of immune molecules, known as a cytokine storm, and attribute many of the crisis's fatalities to this rampant immune reaction.
Emerging research suggests that assessment of interferon response, including blood levels of the cytokine IFN-α which is considered to be one of the earliest indicators of dysregulation of the anti-viral immune response IL-6 and several other inflammatory biomarkers are among the most promising prognostic markers for severe disease expression.
To further evaluate this theory, two research teams one from the Institut Pasteur, supported by the Fonds IMMUNOV and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), and another on behalf of the International Center for Research in Infectious Diseases in Lyon, France deployed Quanterix' highly sensitive Simoa technology to quantify and profile telltale markers, including inflammatory cytokines, in COVID-19 patients with a range of disease severity.
Findings in both studies suggest a correlation between disease severity and low interferon production, suggesting that quantification of IFN production could be a promising strategy for identifying high-risk individuals and informing therapeutic response.
As detailed in Science, the Institut Pasteur, Institut Imagine, Inserm, Université de Paris and Assistance publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) conducted an integrated immune analysis that included in-depth phenotypical profiling of immune cells, whole-blood transcriptomic and cytokine quantification on a cohort of fifty COVID-19 patients with a range of disease severity.
Patients were tested eight to twelve days following their first symptoms and in the absence of anti-inflammatory therapy.
Findings illustrate a profoundly impaired interferon type I response characterized by a low interferon production and activity, with consequent downregulation of interferon-stimulated genes.
Moreover, the team found this to be associated with persistent blood virus load and characterized by increased interleukin -6 production and innate immune chemokines.
Although preliminary, the research demonstrates the potential utility of a test for type-I IFN deficiency in the blood to help stratify COVID-19 patients and support earlier intervention for those most likely to experience an acute reaction.
Furthermore, findings from both studies offer new insights into the innate immune response and COVID-19 associated deficiencies that could inform ongoing therapeutic development and treatment decisions in clinical settings.
Quanterix is a company that's digitizing biomarker analysis with the goal of advancing the science of precision health.
The company's digital health solution, Simoa, has the potential to change the way in which healthcare is provided by giving researchers the ability to closely examine the continuum from health to disease.
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