Project description:The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak started on December 2019 in China and rapidly spread worldwide. Clinical manifestations of Coronavirus-disease 2019 (COVID-19) vary broadly, ranging from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory failure and death, yet the underlying mechanisms and predictive biomarkers for this high variability are still unknown. Emerging evidence has shown that circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) and extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) are functionally involved in a number of physiologic and pathologic processes. To test the hypothesis that these extracellular components are a key determinant of severity in COVID-19, we collected 31 serum samples from mild COVID-19 patients at admission in single center. After standard therapy without corticosteroids, 9 of 31 patients became severe COVID-19. We analyzed exRNA profiles from the 31 serums and 10 healthy controls for predicting COVID-19 severity value.
Project description:To test the contribution of distinct ST-DC populations to either autoimmunity and inflammation or sustained disease remission, we evaluated the phenotypes of their blood precursors in a human model of disease flare following treatment withdrawal in RA patients in disease remission (the BioRRA study, (Baker et al., 2019)). We investigated the frequency and phenotype of PB DC2 and PB-DC3 of RA patients (n=12) in sustained clinical and ultrasound remission achieved with cDMARDs (Baker et al., 2019) by carrying out, and analysing single cell sequencing data at baseline remission levels, and upon endpoint after treatment withdrawal. We identified that PB DCs differ transcriptionally, but not proportionally, at the baseline of patients who sustain remission, versus those who go on to flare, and at endpoint. We propose that the transcriptomic profile of these peripheral blood DCs could be used as a biomarker of flare in remission RA patients.
Project description:While the majority of infants infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) exhibit mild or no symptoms, approximately 3 million children under the age of five are hospitalized every year due to complications from RSV. This research sought to explore the biological processes and related biomarkers responsible for the varied manifestations of RSV disease in young infants. The goal is to pave the way for a more precise categorization of RSV-infected infants based on their medical requirements. Whole blood samples are collected from infant case-control cohort study, the RESCEU case-control cohort is a multinational, multicenter, observational study (clinical trial registration number: NCT03756766). Infants < 12 months old with RSV disease were recruited from the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) in The Netherlands, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS) in Spain, Imperial College (IMPERIAL) National Health Service Trust (NHS) and Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust (OXFORD) in the United Kingdom during the RSV seasons 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020. Healthy controls without underlying comorbidities were recruited outside of the RSV season. Eligibility criteria included hospitalization for less than 48 hours at enrolment or within 96 hours of disease onset, no previous receipt of medications to treat RSV infection, no prior exposure to an investigational RSV vaccine or medication, no previous receipt of immunoglobulins or monoclonal antibodies, and had not used montelukast or oral steroids within seven days before enrolment. Infants with co-morbidities were not evaluated in the manuscript. RSV was detected using RSV point-of-care test (POCT) by either a rapid antigen detection test (Alere I) (Alere Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts) or rapid RSV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at the hospital setting, or a RSV PCR test at the laboratory. Convalescence samples were collected 7 ±1 weeks after a positive RSV diagnostic test result. We used microarray to assist us to identify biomarkers for severe RSV disease.