COVID-19 NEWS
Beyond the COVIDome
ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
There ’ s maybe no area in medicine moving as fast right now as research on COVID-19 , and much of that pace owes to the depth of collaboration and info-sharing that technology makes possible . One research group on the Anschutz Medical Campus saw an opportunity to do better .
“ There ’ s a need for widely accessible , analysis-ready datasets ,” says pediatric immunologist and microbiologist Elena Hsieh , MD . “ We built a user-friendly research portal that makes it easy to do these multi-omics analyses to answer a variety of research questions .”
They started with a study of 73 participants hospitalized for COVID-19 on the Anschutz Campus and 32 COVID-negative controls . Then they divided out biospecimen materials to perform cross-platform analyses in an array of -omics assays : transcriptomics , proteomics , metabolomics , cytokine profiling and immune cell phenotyping using mass cytometry . Finally , they annotated the results with clinical data .
They call it the COVIDome .
When they used it to compare various COVID-omics biosignatures against C-reactive protein , or CRP , an established biomarker of poor COVID prognosis , they found a clear association between elevated CRP levels and damage-associated molecular patterns , depletion of protective serpins and mitochondrial metabolic dysfunction . They published that study in Cell Reports in August 2021 ( 1 ).
They also used it to discover that SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion status correlates with certain pathophysiological states , such that it could be used as a biosignature to stratify patients for intervention and even inform analyses of clinical trial results ( 2 ).
Perhaps more important , though , is the service that the database can offer other research groups far beyond the Anschutz Campus – groups that can strengthen the database by adding their own work and data to it . All comers are welcome , says Dr . Hsieh . And they seem to be coming : between launch in November 2020 and June of 2021 , the dashboard saw more than 800 unique users from 36 countries around the world . ••
1 . Sullivan KD , Galbraith MD , Kinning KT , Bartsch K , Levinsky N , Araya P , Smith KP , Granrath RE , Shaw JR , Baxter R , Jordan KR , Russell S , Dzieciatkowska M , Reisz JA , Gamboni F , Cendali F , Ghosh T , Monte AA , Bennett TD , Miller MG , Hsieh EWY , D ’ Alessandro A , Hansen KC , Espinosa JM . The COVIDome Explorer Researcher Portal . medRxiv [ Preprint ]. 2021 Mar 8:2021.03.04.21252945 .
2 . Galbraith MD , Kinning KT , Sullivan KD , Baxter R , Araya P , Jordan KR , Russell S , Smith KP , Granrath RE , Shaw JR , Dzieciatkowska M , Ghosh T , Monte AA , D ’ Alessandro A , Hansen KC , Benett TD , Hsieh EW , Espinosa JM . Seroconversion stages COVID19 into distinct pathophysiological states . Elife . 2021 Mar 16 ; 10 : e65508 .
ELENA HSIEH , MD
Pediatric immunologist , Children ’ s Hospital Colorado
Assistant Professor , Allergy & Immunology , Immunology & Microbiology , Pediatrics University of Colorado School of Medicine
“ We built a user-friendly research portal that makes it easy to do these multi-omics analyses to answer a variety of research questions .”
ELENA HSIEH , MD
10 | CHILDREN ’ S HOSPITAL COLORADO