Discovery of sugar-coated antibodies that predict disease progression

Our antibodies – crucial in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus – are coated in sugars

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from 15 departments at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) found that they could do more for patients if they joined forces. In this way, the BEAT-COVID group is rapidly gaining knowledge about COVID-19, the role of the immune system and – recently – the predictability of disease progression.

“Our antibodies – crucial in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus – are coated with sugars. Depending on how they are coated, sugars can alter the behavior of antibodies. According to our study, which took 159 patients hospitalized patients (who were mildly and severely ill and who received follow-up checks after hospital discharge), we found that specific coating patterns can be observed during the early stages of infection, and those- these reflect the progression of the disease.” explains Tamas Pongracz, doctoral student at the Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics (CPM) of the LUMC. The conclusions of the BEAT-COVID research group are published in eBioMedicineas part of The Lancet Discovery Science.

At the clinic
“This is excellent news from a clinical point of view,” says Anna Roukens, internist-infectiologist in the infectious diseases department of the LUMC. According to Roukens, there are big differences between patients who are admitted to a general ward or to the intensive care unit (ICU): “that’s why we need to know who should stay in hospital and who can be discharged safely at home sick”. Throughout the pandemic, however, determining which people are most at risk of getting worse has presented significant challenges. “We have seen countless times when young people who initially seemed fine suddenly ended up in intensive care. But now we know that certain sugars and coating patterns act as a ‘marker’ that can help us predict the severity of COVID-19 and to make safer decisions about hospitalization.”

From models to functions
“Despite our new knowledge of what these antibodies look like in patients admitted with varying degrees of illness, we still don’t know what they actually do during COVID-19. For example, the study points to a link between sugar-coating patterns and inflammation, but how they contribute to disease mechanisms remains to be explored,” notes Pongracz. To address this issue, the researcher’s next step is to examine antibody function at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. “Once we understand this, we can see if we can treat the severity of COVID-19 in patients who have undergone medical procedures,” concludes Roukens.

Want to know more about BEAT-COVID? So watch Anna Roukens PEP talk on Youtube