"President's Choice" August 8, 2022
Chiba University Researchers announced the new findings on biomarkers to predict the aggravation of COVID-19.
On August 1, Chiba University Hospital announced its new findings from the clinical research published in an international medical journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The team has been working on elucidating the exacerbation mechanism of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) since July 2020.
When this clinical research started, I formed a research team with the University Hospital as dean of the Graduate School of Medicine because working with the Hospital team seemed the surest and fastest way to return basic research achievements to society as quickly as possible.
Based on previous research at the Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, we focused on a protein called Myl9. Assuming that Myl9 is involved in the pathology and severity of COVID-19, we conducted our clinical research.
Now, we found out that the vascular damage caused by the COVID-19 infection direct to the lungs' blood vessels caused the formation of blood clots and that Myl9 released along with these blood clots can be used as a biomarker to determine and predict the severity of COVID-19.
In this clinical research, we received the cooperation of many hospitals and research institutions, including Chiba University Hospital, and many patients and their families. I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude for their invaluable support.
Based on the findings of this study, we will advance our research to develop simple measurement methods of biomarkers to predict COVID-19 aggravation and new treatment. We hope to contribute to society through our research and development.