A solution to reduce the mortality rate from coronavirus? A team of French researchers published on July 13 in the journal Science, a study showing that a deficiency in the blood of a protein normally produced by the immune system “could be the hallmark of severe forms of Covid-19”.
These proteins, type 1 interferons, are normally produced by cells of the immune system in response to the presence of an infection. But the study shows that patients who require intensive care produce very little interferon. Identifying this deficit in certain patients could therefore make it possible to determine whether they are at risk.
About 5% of people with Covid-19 progress to severe or critical form, but doctors cannot say precisely which patients are likely to get worse, apart from the risk factors observed such as obesity or advanced age. This is “an essential question (…) to improve individual care and the prognosis of these patients”, points out Inserm, the University of Paris, the Imagine Institute, the Institut Pasteur and AP-HP in Paris, from which the authors of the study emanate.
The analyzes were carried out on 50 infected patients, with different degrees of severity, which made it possible to determine that, in seriously ill patients, “the production and activity of type 1 interferons are greatly reduced.” The results “underline the value of therapeutic approaches combining the early administration of interferons (…) in patients preventing a severe form “, conclude the authors.
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