Posted on 08/11/2021 8:39:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
One of the big COVID-19 mysteries is why some people suffer severe illness, while others experience mild colds. Research about reactive T cells produced during infection with other beta coronaviruses — which could explain a level of mitigating immunity for some people — has appeared in journals. Age certainly seems to be a significant risk factor. However, nothing to date explained all differences or provided any insight into which patients may suffer from severe disease.
Now researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have found a specific and sensitive biomarker that may provide more insight:
In a new retrospective study, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) discovered a specific and sensitive biomarker in blood samples that predicts which patients will develop COVID-19 symptoms. Their results, published online on July 9 in Scientific Reports, show that reduced levels of a specific lipid, sphingosine, are significantly associated with developing COVID-19 symptoms. Conversely, elevated levels of sphingosine, as well as a protein involved in its production, acid ceramidase (AC), are associated with asymptomatic infections.
Sphingosine is one lipid in the class called sphingolipids. These molecules are important to the integrity of the cell membrane, which viruses must penetrate to hijack the cell processes in order to replicate. Sphingolipids also facilitate communication between cells and regulate inflammation and the immune response to various infections. The MUSC Ogretmen Lab has decades of experience measuring different lipids using a standard scale.
Inflammation is a known feature of severe COVID-19 and mortality, and clinicians believe it is caused by an immune system overreaction in the lungs. This reaction is sometimes referred to as a cytokine storm. The MUSC Lab performed an analysis of patient serum samples from the COVID-19 repository to look specifically for changes in sphingolipid levels.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
DETAILS HERE:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-covid-biomarker-blood-sphingosine-symptomatic.html
[EXCERPT]
“Just by looking at the data, you can clearly separate the different patient groups, even without doing technical statistical analyses,” said Alhaji Janneh, lead author and graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
In asymptomatic patients who tested positive for a SARS-CoV-2 antibody, the researchers found a slight increase in serum sphingosine levels—and only sphingosine—compared to patients who tested negative. Remarkably, in patients who developed COVID-19 symptoms, there was a 15-fold reduction in sphingosine levels. Conversely, almost 75% of asymptomatic patients had elevated AC levels while most symptomatic patients had no detectable AC. The presence of serum AC correlates with the increased levels of sphingosine.
“Can this be an alternative way to predict which patients are the most vulnerable to severe disease?” asked Ogretmen, who is also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the SmartState Endowed Chair in Lipidomics and Drug Discovery. “If we can separate asymptomatic patients from symptomatic patients, we can use limited remedies and resources for patients who are more vulnerable.”
Overall, there is a 99% probability of correctly determining which patients, who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, will develop disease symptoms versus remain asymptomatic, using blood levels of sphingosine.
These striking results would not have been possible without the MUSC COVID-19 Biorepository and collaboration with the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute (SCTR). SCTR set up the biorepository to serve as a resource for COVID-19 research, and SCTR co-principal investigator Patrick Flume, M.D. is its director and one of the authors of the article.
Analyzing levels of various lipids from patient samples is expensive and requires sophisticated equipment, making this type of analysis prohibitive under most circumstances. However, the development of an ELISA-based assay—like those used to diagnose HIV infection—to detect levels of AC could provide a cost-effective alternative that could be widely implemented.
Are there nutritional supplements that will increase sphingosine and other sphingolipid levels?
I love me some serum sphingosine with collard greens and purple-hulled peas.
This is really interesting! Thanks.
One of my neighbors has a relative who is a nurse.
She said people with conditions like diabetes and heart problems were thought by the nurses at the local hospital to be highly susceptible.
Yup. Sounds like it goes on salad.
Could a sphingosine nasal spray prevent COVID-19?
https://www.drugtargetreview.com/news/72711/could-a-sphingosine-nasal-spray-prevent-covid-19/
The team from the University of Cincinnati (UC), US, established that sphingosine – a lipid naturally found in the human body, which is key for cellular lipid metabolism – is important in the local immune defences of epithelial cells, which line the surfaces of the body (eg, skin, blood vessels, urinary tract and organs) and protect them from pathogens.
In short, comorbidity issues, something that was identified early on in 2020.
The biomarker - old, white female that loves multiple cats.
Oops. I thought it was the biomarker for those that feared COVID. Carry on.
Very good question!!
In the end the fate of individuals in this COVID pandemic, as in all pandemics, has everything to do with individual genetics and little with masks or lockdowns.
Man or Mouse ?
Apparently quercetin and capsaicin worked well in a study.
Nice find.
You can bet that will never happen, given the shell game you go through to get the ELISA COVID test right now.
Better with bourbon.
They are making everyone suffer?
This is interesting.
I have taken the protocol that is now commonly known from the earliest outbreaks in the US...
BUT i take cayenne every day in my coffee.
My covid case was very mild - 2.5 days of not much.
Maybe a connection.
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