Identified a new risk marker associated with the greater severity of covid

Researchers from the Cancer Research Center (CIC), based in Salamanca, have identified that patients hospitalized with covid-19 during the early waves of the pandemic have a higher frequency of B-cell lymphocytosis monoclonal cells with low counts than the general population.

The CIC explained this Tuesday in a press release that a study published by these scientists has shown that this lymphocytosis is identified as a new independent risk marker for the most severe covid.

The results obtained in the research have served to identify which factors are associated with the most serious cases of covid in the first waves of the pandemic, prior to vaccination.

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For this study, the researchers have analyzedor blood samples from patients hospitalized with coronavirus and have compared it with the general population of the same geographic region on dates prior to the pandemic.

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“Based on our results and previous data from our line of research, ‘MBL lo’ emerges as a new independent risk marker for more severe covid. Subjects with ‘MBL lo’ have impaired immunity and would therefore be more prone to severe infections and potentially also develop inadequate responses to vaccination,” the researchers said.

The study has detected the presence of ‘MBL lo’ in the 29% of covid patientsa frequency that doubles that observed in the general population, while the prevalence of ‘MBL lo’ was even higher in patients admitted to hospital (by 40 percent), including critically ill patients.