Researchers within HPA have demonstrated the usefulness of "next generation plasma protein profiling" to identify molecular signatures of importance for disease progression and to allow monitoring of disease during recovery from COVID-19. The results will facilitate further studies to understand the molecular mechanism of the immune-related response of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

COVID-19 has caused millions of deaths globally, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying the various effects of the disease remain poorly understood. Recently, a new analytical platform for comprehensive analysis of plasma protein profiles using proximity extension assays combined with next generation sequencing has been developed, which allows for multiple proteins to be analyzed simultaneously without sacrifice on accuracy or sensitivity.

The study shows that older individuals have a slower recovery back to normal plasma levels after infection and the study demonstrates that many of these older patients display a "disease profile" even after 14 days of diagnosis, despite having no symptoms of disease. An interesting protein shown to be elevated in the infected patients is the host cell receptor protein SCARB2 involved in entry of other viruses, but not yet implicated in cell entry for SARS-CoV-2.

Link to article