According to a study conducted by French researchers, there is a “very high rate” of the protein calprotectin in patients with a severe form of Covid-19.
A protein produced by the body in a context of inflammation could play an important role in severe forms of Covid-19, and the target, therefore, could help to fight against the aggravation of the disease, according to a study conducted by French researchers.
According to these studies, published Thursday in the journal Cell, there is a “very high rate” – 100 to 1000 times more than normal – of this protein, calprotectin, in patients with a severe form of Covid-19. “Our results suggest that calprotectin could be responsible for the worsening of the Covid-19”, said in a press release, the lead author of the study, the researcher in immunology Aymeric Silvin.
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many studies around the world looking to better understand the mechanisms of the”storm cytokinique”, an inflammatory reaction is uncontrolled, and excessive implicated in severe forms of Covid-19. “The sharp increase of calprotectin in the blood may intervene before a storm cytokinique associated with the runaway inflammatory of patients developing a severe form,” said Aymeric Silvin.
In theory, one could perhaps identify patients at high risk of developing a severe form of the disease, by testing the rate of calprotectin in their blood, according to the press release of the French organizations at the origin of this research (Gustave Roussy, AP-HP, Inserm), in collaboration with foreign teams (Singapore, China, Israel).
Identify the severe forms
In addition, this track could provide “a therapeutic approach unprecedented”, since blocking the receptor for calprotectin may help to fight the aggravation. “These strategies are to be evaluated by clinical trials”, according to the release.
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The study was based on the analysis of blood samples from 158 patients admitted to the emergency room for suspicion of Covid-19.
Among the patients who are most affected, in addition to the high rate of calprotectin, the analyses revealed an abnormal functioning of certain white blood cells, which appear to weaken the immune response. Do analyses of these two markers on admission of a patient, therefore, could help to identify in advance the risk of severe forms.
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“The early diagnosis of a severe form of the Covid-19 can be achieved on a tube of blood,” hoped another of the researchers, the Pr Michaela Fontenay, the head of the hematology department of biology of the Cochin hospital in Paris, quoted in the press release.
