This is a summary, written by members of the CITF Secretariat, of

Butler-Laporte G, Gonzalez-Kozlova E, Su CY, Zhou S, Nakanishi T, Brunet-Ratnasingham E, Morrison D, Laurent L, Afilalo J, Afilalo M, Henry D, Chen Y, Carrasco-Zanini J, Farjoun Y, Pietzner M, Kimchi N, Afrasiabi Z, Rezk N, Bouab M, Petitjean L, Guzman C, Xue X, Tselios C, Vulesevic B, Adeleye O, Abdullah T, Almamlouk N, Moussa Y, DeLuca C, Duggan N, Schurr E, Brassard N, Durand M, Del Valle DM, Thompson R, Cedillo MA, Schadt E, Nie K, Simons NW, Mouskas K, Zaki N, Patel M, Xie H, Harris J, Marvin R, Cheng E, Tuballes K, Argueta K, Scott I; Mount Sinai COVID-19 Biobank Team, Greenwood CMT, Paterson C, Hinterberg M, Langenberg C, Forgetta V, Mooser V, Marron T, Beckmann N, Kenigsberg E, Charney AW, Kim-Schulze S, Merad M, Kaufmann DE, Gnjatic S, Richards JB. The dynamic changes and sex differences of 147 immune-related proteins during acute COVID-19 in 580 individuals. Clin Proteomics. 2022 Sep 28. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12014-022-09371-z.

The results and/or conclusions contained in the research do not necessarily reflect the views of all CITF members.

In a publication in Clinical Proteomics led by Drs. Brent Richards and Guillaume Butler-Laporte (McGill University), CITF funded researcher Dr. Daniel Kaufmann (Université de Montréal) and Dr. Vincent Mooser (McGill University, former director of the Biobanque québécoise de la COVID-19 (BQC19)) determined that severe COVID-19 is associated with significant changes in 69 immune-related proteins.

Key findings:

  • COVID-19 disease is associated with broad changes in immunological proteins such as cytokines, interleukins and other immune proteins that can be prognostic indicators of severe disease.
  • Of the 147 proteins studied in 580 individuals, 69 showed a significant difference between individuals with severe COVID-19Positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test result who required invasive or non-invasive mechanical respiratory support and controlsSubjects with a positive PCR test who did not require invasive ventilation, or any subject with signs or symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but who had negative PCR tests for the virus who did not require invasive or non-invasive respiratory support.
  • 6 (TLR5, CXCL17, CCL28, CCL26, IL1RL2, and IL3RA) of the 69 proteins associated with severe COVID-19 were found to show distinct differences between males and females, potentially indicating fundamental sex-dependent differences in disease manifestations.

A high-throughput protein measurement technology called the SomaScan assay was used to measure 147 cytokines and other immune-related proteins in blood samples from the CITF-funded BQC19 and the Mount Sinai Biobank over the first 14 days of having COVID-19. The enrolled subjects had PCR proven SARS-CoV-2 infections, or presented with signs or symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but without a microbiological diagnosis of COVID-19.

Among the study population of 580 individuals, the mean subject age was 64.3, and 47% were male.