On November 9, the magazine Viruses publishedscientific article fruit of the Parc Taulí's first own research project on COVID-19. The following I3PT researchers took part in the study: Joan Calvet, Jordi Gratacós, María José Amengual, Maria Llop, Marta Navarro, Amàlia Moreno, Alejandra Serrano, Cristòbal Orellana and Manel Cervantes; together with Antoni Berenguer-Llergo, from IRB Barcelona.
This publication aims to evaluate lymphocyte subsets as predictors of severe disease. This is a study open to new objectives, from which more results may be derived in the future. Below we talk to the first authors of the publication, the Dr. John Calvet and the Dr. Jordi Gratacós, who will tell us what the study has consisted of and what advances it can make in COVID-19 research.
By way of introduction, could they explain what lymphocytes are and how important they are within the immune system in pneumonia?
Lymphocytes are part of our defensive system. Much of its activation and interaction depends on people's ability to respond effectively to infections. Alterations in the number, functioning and interactions between lymphocytes can condition a poor response to the infection and make it more severe.
As this is a prospective cohort study, what types of patients were studied?
Patients with SARS-CoV-2 positive PCR-positive bilateral pneumonia requiring hospital admission were studied. A blood draw was performed on the day of admission, before any treatment and the patient was followed to see his evolution, considering him critical according to criteria established by usual clinical practice. Thus we were able to differentiate the two groups of patients, critical and non-critical. The design of the study allowed us to have available blood from patients before knowing their outcome according to critics or not, which allows us to establish whether these measurements made at the time of admission have predictive value.
Patients were given a blood test with prior informed consent on the day of admission to the hospital. No other invasive or bloody tests were performed. ” the researchers state, about the type of tests performed
What did the results report (broadly speaking, broadly speaking)?
The results identified that a subtype of lymphocytes, CD4 + T lymphocytes, and their functionality, MFI CD4, can predict at the time of admission, the evolution towards critical or non-critical of patients admitted for COVID- pneumonia. 19, and more optimally than the analytical parameters currently used in routine clinical practice, such as dimer D, LDH, ferritin, or PCR.
Concluding this part of the study, how important do they consider lymphocytes to be at the time of admission of a patient with COVID-19?
Although the results obtained are consistent, and really show a significant effect, it would now be necessary in a second step, to start studies to see their validation and applicability in real clinical practice, that is, their applicability to clinical practice. It would be good, therefore, to systematically determine these lymphocyte subpopulations to anyone who requires admission for COVID-19 and confirm whether, under conditions of actual clinical practice, they also serve to establish their prognosis at the time of admission and even , if they have the ability to determine people who need more aggressive treatments.
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