Science for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Science for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Clinical Microbiology, Dr Sami Ulus Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.
EBioMedicine. 2021 Dec;74:103723. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103723. Epub 2021 Nov 27.
COVID-19 has caused millions of deaths globally, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying the various effects of the disease remain poorly understood. Recently, a new analytical platform for comprehensive analysis of plasma protein profiles using proximity extension assays combined with next generation sequencing has been developed, which allows for multiple proteins to be analyzed simultaneously without sacrifice on accuracy or sensitivity.
We analyzed the plasma protein profiles of COVID-19 patients (n = 50) with mild and moderate symptoms by comparing the protein levels in newly diagnosed patients with the protein levels in the same individuals after 14 days.
The study has identified more than 200 proteins that are significantly elevated during infection and many of these are related to cytokine response and other immune-related functions. In addition, several other proteins are shown to be elevated, including SCARB2, a host cell receptor protein involved in virus entry. A comparison with the plasma protein response in patients with severe symptoms shows a highly similar pattern, but with some interesting differences.
The study presented here demonstrates the usefulness of "next generation plasma protein profiling" to identify molecular signatures of importance for disease progression and to allow monitoring of disease during recovery from the infection. The results will facilitate further studies to understand the molecular mechanism of the immune-related response of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
This work was financially supported by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
COVID-19 已在全球范围内造成数百万人死亡，但该疾病各种影响的细胞机制仍知之甚少。最近，开发了一种新的分析平台，用于使用邻近延伸测定法结合下一代测序对血浆蛋白谱进行综合分析，该平台允许同时分析多种蛋白质，而不会牺牲准确性或灵敏度。
我们通过比较新诊断患者的蛋白水平与 14 天后同一患者的蛋白水平，分析了 COVID-19 轻症和中度症状患者（n=50）的血浆蛋白谱。
该研究鉴定了 200 多种在感染过程中显著升高的蛋白质，其中许多与细胞因子反应和其他免疫相关功能有关。此外，还发现了其他几种升高的蛋白质，包括参与病毒进入的宿主细胞受体蛋白 SCARB2。与重症患者的血浆蛋白反应比较显示出高度相似的模式，但存在一些有趣的差异。
本研究表明，“下一代血浆蛋白谱分析”可用于鉴定对疾病进展重要的分子特征，并可在感染恢复期间监测疾病，具有实用性。研究结果将促进进一步研究，以了解 SARS-CoV-2 病毒的免疫相关反应的分子机制。
这项工作得到了 Knut 和 Alice Wallenberg 基金会的资助。
