Researchers at the Nagourney Cancer Institute and Metabolomycs, Inc. announced in issue of PLOS ONE-a study that showed that COVID-19 related illness severity and death can be predicted by a blood test that is conducted at the time of diagnosis.
Working in collaboration with investigators from the Cassems Medical Center in Campo Grande, Brazil, 82 patients with RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 were compared with 31 healthy controls.
Blood samples were obtained from each patient and studied for biochemical composition using quantitative mass spectrometry. This technique allowed researchers to measure minute quantities of metabolites in the blood. Investigators identified metabolic signatures that could distinguish mild COVID-19 infection from more severe and lethal forms of the disease.
“It has long been recognized that persons with certain co-morbidities such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection,” said Dr. Nagourney, lead researcher. “Our results now confirm the metabolic basis of COVID-19 severity. By using amino acid, lipid and other blood measures, we showed that subtle, previously undetectable levels of liver, mitochondrial and immune abnormalities underlie each persons’ predisposition to life-threatening COVID-19 infection.”
The implications could be profound as it could enable the healthcare community to stratify patients based on individual risk, allowing doctors to allocate medical resources more effectivity and treat those at greatest risk earlier in the course of the disease before severe complications set in. The findings suggest that it is not the infecting organism, in this case the COVID-19 virus, but instead the individual’s response to the infection that determines outcome. This could have important ramifications for the management of newer variants as they arise.
“When we compared the usual risk factors such as obesity against our new metabolic signatures, the biochemical measures proved highly discriminatory and may in the future enable us to find those otherwise healthy, younger patients who are destined to develop more severe disease, all in time to intervene,” Nagourney said.