What if, by reading white blood cells, we could write the history of the disease? Knowing whether we are at risk of developing – or not – a serious form of Covid-19 … New hope in the face of the virus, the trail has been opened by the Gustave-Roussy Institute, in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne). Researchers have found something in common between severely affected patients: a dysfunction of the cells of the immune system associated with too high a level of Calprotectin, a protein usually generated during inflammation.
At first glance, it is difficult to see the link between the giant in the fight against cancer and this discovery, published this summer in the prestigious journal Cell. However, it is here, in a laboratory in Villejuif that it took place. Not just any. A very recent one, created in part thanks to donations from the campaign “to cure childhood cancer in the 21st century”, which (re) started this Wednesday for “golden September”, month dedicated to the fight against the pathology which affects 2,500 children per year, including 500 who will not recover.
Ultra-sophisticated mechanics
Since the incarnation of the campaign by the sulky face of little Noah, displayed on the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, thirteen million euros have been collected to advance research in Roussy. This winter, an immunologist and brain expert, then stationed in Singapore, was recruited to work 100% on infiltrating brainstem glioma, an incurable pediatric tumor – the one that died of Noah when he was 10 years old.
VIDEO. Childhood cancer: the war of Noah’s dad, who died at 10
“I arrived on December 4,” says Aymeric Silvin. We barely had time to set up the lab when the Covid arrived, putting a brake on our work. I first volunteered by welcoming patients, then a colleague told me: would you be ok to use your techniques on the Covid? There you go, the adventure has begun. “Because the researcher acquired, upon his arrival, the Aurora. From the outside, a printer-like cube. Inside, an ultra-sophisticated mechanism that establishes the identity card of each of the cells that pass between its rays.
Identify people who can progress to a severe form
The team then began to detail blood samples belonging to Covid patients treated in hospitals in Paris (AP-HP). “We realize that the white blood cells have changed in those with a severe form. They have a particular profile, like an unripe fruit which does not fulfill its function. And that this is associated with an overproduction of Calprotectin. “It was found in astronomical quantities – 100 to 1,000 times more than normal. This outburst seems to take place before the cytokine storm, suggesting that Calprotectin may be responsible for the worsening of Covid ”, analyzes Aymeric Silvin.
Calprotectin, a predictor of the severity of the infection? “This paves the way for a diagnostic test to quickly identify people who can progress to a severe form,” he enthuses. And of course, the development of therapeutic targets to block the protein. To go further, a clinical trial to include nearly 1,000 people has started at AP-HP.
