What are the mechanisms behind the multisystem inflammatory syndrome that sometimes occurs in children with Covid-19? A new study published in Nature Communications has identified 137 immune proteins that are activated in severe cases of Covid-19 among children. The discovery is due to a team of researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute-Mcri and the University of Melbourne, Australia, who managed to identify the pathogenetic mechanisms at the origin of the multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which attacks vital organs such as the heart, lungs and brain, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which damages the lungs. (COVID: THE LATEST NEWS LIVE – COVID VACCINE: DATA AND GRAPHICS ON ADMINISTRATIONS IN ITALY, REGION BY REGION)
Children: the triggers of serious Covid
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The main triggers of severe Covid-19 in children, as explained by Conor McCafferty, a Mcri researcher and PhD student at the University of Melbourne, are blood clotting and the way in which the proteins of the immune system react to the virus. The discovery of the biological pathways involved in severe infection, according to the researchers, opens the way for earlier diagnoses and targeted treatments. “Children are generally less susceptible to Covid-19 and have milder symptoms, but it is unclear what caused some very serious illnesses to develop,” McCafferty said. “Our research was the first to uncover the specific pathways of blood clotting and immune proteins that impacted children with Covid-19 who developed severe symptoms.”
The study in detail
To carry out the study, the research team analyzed blood samples of 20 healthy children, collected at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and 33 Sars-CoV-2 positive children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome or acute respiratory distress syndrome, collected by the ‘Hopital Necker-Enfants Malades, Greater Paris University Hospitals. By comparing the blood samples, the researchers were able to detect 85 and 52 specific proteins for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, respectively, the main potential outcomes of severe Covid-19.