Scientists foresee a spike in cases as schools and institutions return in the following weeks. Antibody levels may diminish in the weeks and months following the second vaccination, but the impact on vaccine protection against severe disease and death is unknown.

In a new study, researchers have discovered how a critical enzyme that works similarly to snake venom wreaks havoc on the body’s organs, increasing the likelihood of death. Furthermore, these discoveries could have a significant impact on the development of new COVID-19 treatments.

The release of the sPLA2-IIA enzyme in COVID-19 patients may be the most important predictor of death, according to researchers.

sPLA2-IIA, which is comparable to an active enzyme in rattlesnake venom, is found in low concentrations in healthy people and has long been known to play an important role in bacterial defence.

According to Floyd Chilton, principal author of the research, when the enzyme circulates at high levels, it has the potential to destroy the body’s essential organs.

Doctor Chilton said:

“It’s a bell-shaped curve of disease resistance versus host tolerance.

“In other words, this enzyme is trying to kill the virus but at certain points it is released in such high amounts that things head in a really bad direction, destroying the patient’s cell membranes and thereby contributing to multiple organ failure and death.”

Maurizio Del Poeta, a distinguished professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine and study co-author, said the study provides a new target to reduce COVID-19 death.

He said:

“The idea to identify potential prognostic factors in COVID-19 patients originated from Doctor Chilton.

“He first contacted us last fall with the idea to analyse lipids and metabolites in blood samples of COVID-19 patents.”

To do their research, Del Poeta and his colleagues gathered blood plasma samples and data from 127 hospitalized patients.

The researchers also used data from a second cohort of 154 patient samples.

Doctor Chilton explained:

“These are small cohorts, admittedly, but it was a heroic effort to get them and all associated clinical parameters from each patient under these circumstances.

“As opposed to most studies that are well planned out over the course of years, this was happening in real time on the ICU floor.”

The researchers used algorithms to analyse patient data in order to distinguish between various biological enzymes and lipid metabolites.

The researchers discovered unique patterns of metabolites in patients who died from the condition.

Justin Snider, assistant research professor, said:

“The metabolites that surfaced revealed cell energy dysfunction and high levels of the sPLA2-IIA enzyme. The former was expected, but not the latter.”

Most healthy people have circulating levels of the sPLA2-IIA enzyme, which are typically approximately half a nanogram per millilitre.

COVID-19 was deadly in 63 percent of individuals with severe COVID-19 and levels of sPLA2-IIA equal to or greater than 10 nanograms per millilitre, according to the study.

Chilton added:

“Many patients who died from COVID-19 had some of the highest levels of this enzyme that have ever been reported.”

“It shared a high sequence homology to the active enzyme in rattlesnake venom and, like venom coursing through the body, it has the capacity to bind to receptors at neuromuscular junctions and potentially disable the function of these muscles.

“Roughly a third of people develop long COVID, and many of them were active individuals who now can’t walk 100 yards. The question we are investigating now is: If this enzyme is still relatively high and active, could it be a response to part of the long COVID outcomes that we’re seeing?”

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