Researchers from the United States have shown that the body’s immune response on SARS-COV-2 affects changes in blood plasma metabolism and human immune cells. The article of the researchers was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Scientists from the Institute of System Biology in conjunction with colleagues from Washington and Stanford Universities collected 374 sample blood from 198 patients during the first week after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. The researchers analyzed 1387 genes regulating the metabolic pathways of immune cells, and 1050 blood plasma metabolites.
Specialists found that the factor of increased severity of the course of coronavirus infection was changes in the activity of metabolites. In addition, sequencing single cells showed that each type of immune cells had its own specific metabolic signatures.
According to scientists, for each type of cells – T-killers of T-helpers and contributing to the production of antibodies of B-lymphocytes – a special metabolic restructuring was characterized. “The immune system associated with the plasma metaboloma allowed to predict the severity of the disease and even the death of the patient,” said one of the researchers, a researcher at the Institute of System Biology Japane Su.