New Delhi: According to research, blood tests done at the time of Kovid-19 infection can help in finding out whether a person is likely to live for a long time.
The study, published in the Lancet eBiomedicine journal, analyzed proteins in the blood of healthcare workers infected with SARS-CoV-2 and compared them with samples collected from healthcare workers who were not infected.
Normally the level of protein in the body remains stable. But the researchers found dramatic differences in the levels of certain proteins up to six weeks after infection, suggesting disruptions in several important biological processes.
Using an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, they identified a “signature” in the abundance of different proteins that successfully predicted whether the person would report persistent symptoms a year after infection.
Researchers say that if these findings are replicated in a larger, independent group of patients, a test could potentially be offered along with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that can help people develop longer covids. probability can be estimated.
Study lead author Dr Gaby Captor (MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Aging at UCL) said, “Our study shows that even mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 disrupts the profile of proteins in our blood plasma. This means that even mild COVID-19 affects normal biological processes dramatically, for at least six weeks after infection.
“Our tool for predicting long-term covid still needs to be validated in an independent, larger cohort of patients. However, using our approach, a test that predicts long covid at the time of initial infection , it can be started quickly and in a cost-effective manner.”
The method of analysis we use is readily available in hospitals and is high-throughput, meaning it can analyze thousands of samples in an afternoon.
Senior author Dr Wendy Heywood (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital) said, “If we can identify people who are more likely to develop covid over a longer period of time, it would be an anti-inflammatory. Testing like viral opens the door to treatment. This first, early infection phase, to see if it can reduce the risk of a longer COVID later.”
For the study, researchers analyzed blood plasma samples from 54 healthcare workers who had PCR, or antibody-confirmed infection, taken every week in spring 2020 for six weeks, comparing them to 102 healthcare workers with the same period from samples taken that were not infected. ,
They used targeted mass spectrometry, a form of analysis that is extremely sensitive to small changes in the number of proteins in blood plasma, to see how COVID-19 affected these proteins over the course of six weeks.
The researchers found abnormally high levels of the protein in 12 of 91 people infected with SARS-CoV-2, and that the degree of abnormality tracked with the severity of symptoms.
The research team found that at the time of first infection, abnormal levels of 20 of the proteins studied were predictive of persistent symptoms after one year. Most of these proteins were associated with anti-coagulant (anti-clotting) and anti-inflammatory processes.
A machine learning algorithm, trained on the participants’ protein profiles, was able to separate all 11 healthcare workers who reported at least one persistent symptom over a year, from infected healthcare workers who reported persistent symptoms after a year. Did not report symptoms. Another machine learning tool was used to estimate the error probability and suggested a possible error rate of 6% for this method.
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