Severe coronavirus patients know by looking at white blood cells

While the number of patients with severe corona is increasing significantly, researchers in Korea have found a way to easily identify patients with severe and mild corona disease. It is expected to help diagnose patients as well as develop severe corona treatment.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 7th that “Professor Heung-gyu Lee of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences has discovered a factor that determines the severity of the novel coronavirus infection by revealing the association between neutrophils, which are white blood cells, and immunoregulatory hormones “. The results of this study were published in the international journal ‘Advanced Immunology’ on the 28th of last month.

◇ An excessive leukocyte reaction causes a severe corona

Patients with severe coronavirus have symptoms of acute respiratory distress syndrome, especially lung tissue. In response, various immune cells, such as neutrophils, display an immune response to protect the host from viral infection, but if it is excessive, it can be quite poisonous.

The so-called “cytokine storm” in which the level of cytokines, an immune protein, explodes, causes deadly inflammation in organs.

Professor Lee’s team analyzed the genetic information of individual cells in the bronchial alveoli of patients with mild and severe coronavirus. As a result, it was confirmed that neutrophils, which were known to only be involved in fungal or bacterial infections, were increased in the bronchi of seriously ill patients than in mild patients.

Neutrophils are immune cells that make up 50-70% of the white blood cells in the blood and feed on foreign pathogens. The researchers found that neutrophils in the patient’s alveoli attack normal epithelial cells rather than virus-infected cells. This leads to a severe crown.

◇ Suggest the possibility of severe treatment with immunosuppressive hormone

The researchers also found that the protein that causes neutrophil growth is regulated by glucocorticoids.

Glucocorticoids are hormones produced by the adrenal glands near the kidneys and suppress the immune response. Dexamethasone, a steroid drug recently known to reduce the mortality rate of severe coronavirus patients in the UK, is a drug that targets glucocorticoid-binding receptors. Helps hormones and suppresses excessive immune responses.

The researchers found that in patients with severe corona, the receptors that bind to glucocorticoids do not work properly. In the end, the hormone does not prevent the increase in neutrophils, resulting in an excessive immune response.

Corona has different symptoms for each person. Treatment varies accordingly. To determine the severity of a patient, there must be a defined biomarker.

Professor Lee said: “This research not only uncovers a biomarker that determines the severity of Corona 19, but it also hopes to provide a start for the development of a treatment that will improve severity using glucocorticoid immunosuppressants such as dexamethasone.” Revealed.