COVID-19: New insights into the processes of recovery after severe disease: Novel data analysis method helps uncover hidden disease mechanisms

Recovery from severe COVID-19 is characterized by a reduction of certain white blood cells and changes in the molecular regulation of the immune system. This is the conclusion of an international research team coordinated by DZNE, which reports on this in the journal Cell Reports Medicine. The scientists examined the blood of 139 patients who had received intensive care. Using a novel method of data analysis, they identified — despite individual differences in the time course of the disease — mechanisms of shared relevance that characterized the recovery process from an immunological perspective. These findings demonstrate a novel approach for assessing disease status, which could contribute to more targeted and thus more effective treatment.

The current study is the result of an international effort in which DZNE collaborated with Helmholtz Zentrum München, Technion Institute in Israel and Radbourg University in the Netherlands. The challenge faced by the researchers was to identify commonalities in the data from different patients. This is because in COVID-19, as in many other diseases, the recovery process can vary greatly from person to person, as evidenced, for example, by how symptoms develop over time and how long hospitalization lasts.

“This makes it difficult to identify generalizable cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. However, such insights are relevant for understanding the nature of the disease and the body’s response — and thus for deciding on the optimal treatment,” says bioinformatician and genome researcher Dr. Amit Frishberg, first author of the current publication. “Therefore, to analyze the data, we used a novel method that we recently developed. Our computational approach is designed to discover common patterns in the variety of findings from different patients that may not be obvious.”

Blood Analyses

COVID-19 can affect multiple organs. However, the disease is known to be significantly shaped by the immune response. “This response is reflected in the blood because that is where the white blood cells circulate,” Frishberg says. “These cells are essential components of the immune system. Therefore, our study focused on the blood of patients.”

In total, the researchers studied blood samples from 139 adults, their ages ranged from 21 to 86 years, and most were male. The data came from three different cohorts. All patients had received treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) including ventilation: 105 recovered to the point that were eventually discharged from the ICU, while 34 died. From most of the individuals studied here, there were multiple blood samples, usually collected during a period of approximately three weeks after admission to the ICU. Also, self-reported health status three months after ICU admission (and subsequent discharge) was available for some patients.

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