Montréal, March 9, 2021 – The collective effort of the Biobanque québécoise de la COVID19 (BQC19) and its participants enabled Dr. Catherine Larochelle, researcher at the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM) and member of the BQC19, and her team to conduct a study on potential therapeutic targets for COVID-19. This research has shown that a range of immune impairments are specifically linked to the SARSCoV-2 virus and the severity of COVID-19.
BQC19 contributed to the recruitment of the participants to this important study. The research team, which also includes a plethora of other scientists, clinicians, research agents and students of the CHUM, among which the teams of Drs. Alexandre Prat, Nathalie Arbour, Daniel E. Kaufmann, Madeleine Durand, Michaël Chassé, Nicolas Chomont and Andrés Finzi was able to identify immune cell populations by analyzing blood samples from 50 BQC19 participants infected with SARS-CoV-2 and from 22 participants hospitalized for another acute disease (SARS-CoV-2 negative) as well as from 49 healthy volunteers as controls.
This scientific discovery demonstrates the usefulness of BQC19 for researchers seeking to better understand the determinants of the current pandemic. This immune profiling, realized by Dr. Larochelle and her collaborators, could enable healthcare professionals to identify the patients who are most at risk of developing severe disease and lead to exploration of new therapeutic approaches for COVID-19.
For more information on Dr. Larochelle’s study:
Identification of SARS-CoV-2-specific immune alternations in acutely ill patients, Rose-Marie Rébillard, et coll., The Journal of Clinical Investigation,
doi : https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI145853
Source
https://www.chumontreal.qc.ca/en/crchum/nouvelles/covid-19-biomarkers-associatedsevere-forms-disease