Marco Demaria, Professor in Cellular Aging and Director of the Mechanisms of Health, Ageing and Disease (MoHAD) Institute, explains that, after the first wave of COVID-19, he felt the urge to understand the mechanism to limit the danger of the pandemic and to improve the life of the elderly.
Researchers at the UMCG started their investigation whether there are characteristics that can predict the severity of COVID-19 in a patient. This involves considering cellular aging and the associated inflammatory response. The research is a collaboration between the Internal Medicine department, Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention department, Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology department and the ERIBA. The Mayo Clinic (Minnesota, USA) also played a role in the analysis process of the study.
Marco Demaria, Hjalmar Bouma, Douwe Postma and other UMCG researchers examined aging features in the blood, plasma, and certain blood cells of individuals with COVID-19 and those without infection. The data was provided by Acutelines, a UMCG based biobank that collects body material and medical information from patients in the Emergency Department for medical scientific research.
The research results indicate that certain features related to aging in cells can be predictive of the severity of COVID-19 in a patient. This ageing process is known as senescence; the phenomenon where cells lose their ability to divide and grow, usually as a response to various stressors or as a natural part of aging.
These features related to aging were particularly found in certain cells (monocytes) of individuals with COVID-19, which appears to be linked to the severity of the disease. These cells may age more rapidly due to the infection and contribute to a strong inflammatory response. This finding can aid in predicting the course of COVID-19 and its short- and potentially long-term consequences.
The above-mentioned result can assist in predicting the progression and consequences of COVID-19 in patients. Hjalmar Bouma, Emergency Medicine Internist and administrator of Acutelines, hopes that this discovery can also bring more clarity to other inflammatory infection related diseases, such as sepsis, where aging symptoms are also present after infection.
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