Immune response in COVID-19 patients [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identification of immunogenic peptides of SARS CoV-2 in blood samples of COVID-19 patients
IRAS ID
291981
Contact name
Simon Powis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of St Andrews
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 18 days
Research summary
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus. Currently, there are only limited medical treatments and there is a need for multiple vaccines for COVID-19. Patient recovery relies on the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 which involves both antibodies and specialised immune cells called killer T cells. These killer T cells seek out and eliminate virus infected cells thus preventing release of new virus particles. Killer T cells identify virus-infected cells by recognising fragments of viral proteins (hereinafter referred as viral peptides) which are presented to them by HLA-I molecules of immune system. The HLA-I molecules are located on the cell surface of infected cells. Identification of viral peptides of SARS CoV-2 on HLA-I molecules will facilitate future treatments and vaccine design, by incorporating the most targeted bits of the virus into the prospective vaccine. At present this information is not known.
Some of these immune HLA-I molecules with the viral peptides are also released into the blood stream, especially when inflammation is present (such as in the lungs in COVID-19). We have developed a new method to identify these viral peptides using easy to access blood samples from patients, thus vastly improving on traditional methods which would require a solid lung tissue biopsy. We isolate the immune HLA-I molecules from patient blood (after first safely inactivating any virus in the blood samples), extract the viral peptides associated with the HLA-I molecules and then analyse them by a highly sensitive mass spectrometry technique, which allows us to identify the viral peptides of SARS CoV-2.Of potential further clinical importance, some types of these HLA-I molecules are more common in people from a BAME background, a section of the community that is known to be at higher risk of developing more severe COVID-19. Thus, our data could allow us to develop future vaccines that are more efficient in some ethnicities.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/YH/0025
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jan 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion