In the case of a Covid-19-disease on the basis of two types of immune cells in the blood to predict whether a Patient develops severe or only mild symptoms.
This results in a study of 40 Covid-19-patients in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The findings were confirmed in Germany, in several patients, says Co-author Ulf Dittmer, the Director of the Institute for Virology of the University hospital Essen and Vice-President of the society for Virology.
Several media had previously reported on in the journal ‘EBioMedicine’ published study.
One of the two immune cell types, according to Dittmer, the so-called Killer T-cells with certain surface markers (CD8).
They kill virus-infected body cells and the propagation of the Coronavirus is Sars-CoV-2 break.
“When patients have only a few of these cells, they have a high risk to develop severe symptoms such as pneumonia or clotting disorders,” explains Dittmer.
The other type of cell called a neutrophil. “There are, in fact, for bacteria to fend off. You can but T-cells in their function to suppress.”
T-cells have an influence on the course of Covid-19
Therefore, in the blood of only a few tonnes of samples with many neutrophils were found in cells, which was associated with a more severe course of the disease.
“Especially the patients with pre-existing conditions, with the result that the number of T-decreasing cells, such patients after transplantation, the drugs for the suppression of rejection reactions will get affected,” says Dittmer.
Be affected cancer patients on chemotherapy, the elderly, in which the number of T-cells age, seems to be declining due to, or obese patients.
“We know that obese people weaker and less T-cells.” At the University hospital of Essen, it had acted in more than 70 percent of the heavy Covid-19-gradients to overweight men.
For a Covid-19-therapy result from the fact that you could try at the beginning of an infection to stimulate the Killer T-cells – which could, for example, certain vaccines.
Also, the vitamins A and C, the function of the T might improve cells.
In transplant you could reduce the dose of drugs for immune suppression in cancer patients, you would have to in the case of a Sars-CoV-2 infection, the chemotherapy break.
Dittmer stressed that a more in-depth study on this was in Germany, meanwhile, is difficult, since there is, fortunately, enough patients.
So it had been around in the last week of may at the University hospital of Essen not only Covid-19-re-recording, in the first week of June only.
Faster treatment for patients at risk
The immunologist Michael Lohoff, who was not involved in the study, the findings are positive. “A safe Test that allows a prognostic statement about the expected Severity of a Covid-19-disease, would be very helpful,” emphasizes the Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and hospital hygiene, University of Marburg.
You could then record-risk patients at an early stage is stationary and, if required, intensive medical therapy. “In the study developed findings is quite attractive.”
However, the investigated number of patients is very low, says Bank. “You should exclude these findings necessarily to other patients, preferably in another part of the world, confirm – also a possible contribution of the genetics of the patient.”
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
*The article “Coronavirus: blood values allow forecasting Covid-19-history” is published by FitForFun. Contact with the executives here.