StemCell Therapy

Like every Thursday Iker Jimnez sought answers to the mysteries about the coronavirus in a new installment of COVID Report. In this case, addressed the genetic key to the disease to try to find out if they exist people with more predisposition than others to be infected.

As in previous programs, surrounded himself with prestigious experts They showed their knowledge on the subject. The first to intervene was Paul bastard, pediatrician at the Necker Hospital in Paris and co-author of the latest study on interferons.

15% of patients with severe forms of COVID have a genetic and immunological susceptibility to make a serious form because they cannot defend themselves well because of a defect in interferon. The type I it is the most famous antiviral molecule and it is the first most useful to fight viruses, not only against the coronavirus, but against everyone. When the virus comes into contact with the cells of the body, they recognize it and there is like an alarm signal, which is the one that induces the production of type I interferon and we have found that the patients who have these autoantibodies were older and almost all, 94% were men. That may explain part of why it affects men and older people more, Bastard said.

He subsequently intervened Salvador Macip, specialist in Molecular Genetics and researcher at the University of Leicester, who stated that one of the great mysteries of this virus even now is what type of immunity it provokes: if you get infected, how your body reacts and why some people react better or worse than others. This it depends a lot on genes and factors that we do not know right now, we cant predict. Why are 10% of people going to have such an aggressive response? We have to look for it and understand it, but we do not know the immune reaction. We do not know why there are people who can be reinfected and it seems proven that a certain part of the population can be infected more than once. Why? It is one of the unknowns that must be answered And I dont think well do it anytime soon. It is a very complicated subject and will have to be studied even in years.

Csar Carballo, emergency assistant at the Ramn y Cajal University Hospital, assured that when the pandemic began the vast majority of patients were men. Although sometimes they came some young people who arrived very badly and there was something that we did not explain, which led us to think that there was something we did not know about the disease. You were left wondering what happened to these patients, who were 10-15%.

Carmen Chamber, Secretary General of the Spanish Immunology Society, confirmed that the figures leave no room for doubt. When we see series of mild COVID, there are 28% of men, in the severe it rises to 75% and in the study by Paul Bastard there is talk of 95%. But it is also important for people to know that in 85% of cases, the immune system of people can with the virus. In a wide range of cases it is not known that it has been had.

Miguel Pita, an expert in Genetics and Cell Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, stated that genetics always have something to sayeven when we least expect it. Some of them suddenly faced with a disease and make you more or less prepared, and it can even be random. We are detecting more and more elements that they make the prognosis better or worse due to small changes in the genetic material.

It will take time to have the answer, but Nowadays, patients are selected who have had a bad time with those who have not. Those are compared thousands of DNA to see what is different. Results that show that on chromosome 3 there is a region that has genes involved in the matter related to the lung. Now we have to investigate what happens there. You have to be cautious, because they are very early results added the specialist.

Alfredo Corell, Professor of Immunology at the University of Valladolid, member of the board of directors of the Spanish Society of Immunology and scientific disseminator, highlighted the importance of interferon: There are many types and it is so called because interferes so that the virus does not infect so easily. It is produced by cells of the immune system and signals cells with receptors. These signs They help the lung, protect the epithelia, the organism and send signals so that the immune response is lowered. All this together favors the action of interferon.

Although for Camera, interferons explain 10% of severe cases. When there are things that it only justifies a percentage, we are concerned. But its the first step forward we can give .

In a similar vein, Pita expressed himself, emphasizing that it is still early. Lung things, receptor genetics, etc. will be seen. Genetics can explain up to 50% of the variability in the form of prognosis from the patients. These interferon genes are not a single gene: it has been seen people who make anti-interferon antibodies and people who have trouble making interferon. We go really fast but we want to go faster than science allows us .

Pita recalled that it was one of the first results they tried to associate with prognosis of the illness. From the beginning they were very modest, but it could not be stated that it was a determining factor. We are on the verge of seeing more important things. Blood group may influence, but it is less decisive than diabetes or the gender of each person .

Chamber explained that the immune system has two lines defense: a quick and innate first that can beat COVID without leaving a signal in our blood and it is where type I interferon participates; there are a second, which is the adaptive, and its where T lymphocytes, antibodies, etc. go. and leave memory, with which we do the serological tests to know if we have passed the disease or not .

Therefore, Pita emphasized that If you dont have antibodies, it tells you very little. You are not even protected against reinfection, with which deep down it doesnt matter.

Pita gave several brushstrokes on some characteristics of the virus: We are focusing on the cases in which the genetic system goes wrong. But the virus has its own history. Muta pocor. That is good compared to other viruses, and if it were more mutant, it would be more difficult to find a vaccine. But between being not very aggressive and mutating little, we are not in the worst possible situation to be a pandemic. The strength of this virus is that it is very contagious, but many people are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. If I put you on a bed, it would be less contagious.

More:
Iker Jimnez addresses the genetic code in COVID Report - Pledge Times

This entry was posted on October 17, 2020 at 1:51 am and is filed under Molecular Genetics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |