A 6-year-old child receives the first dose of the vaccine in his mother’s arms at a hospital in Denver, Colorado, USA. Provided by Yonhap News
A specific protein has been identified that causes ‘multi-organ inflammatory syndrome’, which is experienced by a small percentage of children infected with the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). It is expected to help develop rapid diagnostic methods and treatment strategies.
Researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the University of Melbourne in Australia announced for the first time that they identified a specific blood clotting phenomenon and immune protein pathway that causes multi-organ inflammatory syndrome or respiratory distress syndrome among children infected with COVID-19. The research results were published in the international academic journal Nature Communications on the 2nd (local time).
Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome was once called ‘Children’s Syndrome’ because it mainly occurs in children and adolescents infected with COVID-19. It is a symptom experienced by only a small percentage of children infected with COVID-19 and is known to be caused by simultaneous inflammation in several organs, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, and stomach.
Conor McCafferty, MCRI researcher, said, “Children are generally mild when contracted with COVID-19, but a very small proportion become severe, the cause of which is unclear. “We have identified the protein pathway for the first time.”
The research team obtained blood samples from 20 healthy children from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia and from 33 children with severe COVID-19 suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome or acute respiratory distress syndrome from Necker University Hospital in France. Then, an experiment was conducted in which regarding 500 proteins contained in blood were analyzed at once.
As a result of analyzing blood samples, 85 proteins specifically responding to multisystem inflammatory syndrome and 52 proteins specifically responding to acute respiratory distress syndrome were found. They discovered a specific protein that was not found in healthy children. These proteins were analyzed to have an effect on certain blood clotting or the immune system.
According to data reported to health authorities in each country so far, severe cases account for regarding 1.7% of hospitalized children infected with COVID-19. Children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome showed various symptoms such as fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, skin rash, and conjunctivitis, making it difficult to diagnose quickly.
“This study will help us understand and quickly diagnose the multisystem inflammatory syndrome caused by COVID-19, which is severe in children,” the research team said.
