Researchers at Lawson Health Science Institute in London, Ont., are combining new technologies to examine blood proteins in COVID-19 patients in an attempt to discover a different form of treatment.
According to the study, published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, a team at Lawson has discovered “unique patterns of blood plasma proteins in critically ill patients that may help develop a more personalized approach to treating severe COVID-19.”
Known as the plasma proteome, the proteins being studied are released by cells, which often play an important role in the body’s immune response to viruses, researchers noted.
But Dr. Douglas Fraser, a Lawson scientist, critical care physician at the Children’s Hospital at LHSC and a professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, said COVID-19 is not a typical virus when it comes to treatment.
“It’s a new virus, it’s very transmissible, it moves around very quickly, frequently mutates, and it causes the body to have a strong immune response that happens very early after infection,” he explained. “So by the time people are presenting to hospital, the infection is usually taken quite a grip on the body already.”
Fraser added that for the most part, antiviral drugs and supportive care are used to treat COVID-19. However, in studying proteins found in the blood, the research team is also studying how the proteins adapt and change to a COVID-19 infection.
Outlined in the study, blood samples were taken from 30 subjects in three patient groups at LHSC. One group had patients with COVID-19, the second had patients with severe infections but who tested negative for COVID-19, and the third was a “healthy control group.”
Blood samples were then drawn on the day of each patient’s critical care admission and again on days three, seven and 10 in hospital.
Dr. Douglas Fraser, a Lawson scientist, critical care physician at the Children’s Hospital at LHSC and professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Via Lawson Health Research Institute
“We collected plasma from these patients and measured well over a thousand proteins with great accuracy using new technology that combines immunology and genomics,” Fraser said. “With the use of this advanced technology, we were able to better analyze the protein patterns and better understand what is happening with COVID-19, especially in critically ill patients.
“We can start to blend what’s happening in people during their COVID-19 infection at different time points and we can see which drugs are most likely to interrupt the processes going on,” he continued. “It gives us an opportunity to understand the disease better, but also, in a very rational way, to determine which medications might actually prove useful in terms of intervening.”
The team found through the study that COVID-19 patients demonstrated “changes in immunosuppression pathways, which typically keeps the immune system balanced.”
In critically ill patients, the changes were reportedly heightened. Analyses of the plasma proteome helped researchers “determine which cells in the body are active during the disease state and which signaling pathways were activated,” the study explained.
“In-depth analysis of the human plasma proteome helps us capture tissue proteins that can provide us with information regarding organ integrity during infection,” Cristiana Losef, Lawson research associate, said in a statement. “This is important because it will allow us to search for new blood biomarkers that are specific for COVID-19 patients.”
Fraser added that the next step in the study “is to look at the drugs which look promising and have not been used before, and then to decide which ones might be reasonable to try in a clinical trial to see if they truly interrupt the process and help the patient improve.”
Additionally, the next steps for the research team will be to use the technology to “examine plasma biomarkers in long COVID-19 patients” to determine why some develop prolonged disease after the infection.
“This study has allowed us to understand the progression of the disease processes in very sick patients, providing us clues on the body’s immune system and other systems that were reacting to the severe disease,” said Dr. Victor Han, Lawson scientist, director of CHRI and professor at Schulich Medicine and Dentistry.
“We hope that this knowledge will allow us to identify the patients who will become severely ill and develop new therapies to counteract the changes occurring within their bodies.”
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
