Understanding metabolic factors determining COVID-19 disease progression for personalised interventions

Using metabolites as prognostic biomarkers to understand the mechanisms underlying COVID-19 progression (META-COVID)

A team of 12 partners from academia and medical centers including Leiden University, Utrecht University, UMCU, LUMC and Erasmus MC together with industrial partners AB Sciex, Mimetas, Euretos, Khondrion, Danone-Nutricia, Eyesiu Medicines and the patient organisation Topcare will combine expertise to improve treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The objective of this project is to support the fight against COVID-19 by predicting which patients will develop severe symptoms and by developing suitable interventions for patient subgroups. This more personalised approach will lead to an improvement of patient outcomes and a shorter stay at intensive care units. Metabolomics profiling of COVID-19 patient blood will be employed in order to identify prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for disease management, including prevention strategies, nutritional treatment and support.

COVID-19 care will benefit from insights in systemic immunologic and immuno-metabolic states, which are suspected drivers of acute responses. Specifically, this will shed new light on the role of endothelial dysfunction. For this, about 5.000-7.000 metabolic profiles in COVID-19 patients will be measured. By combining the metabolomics data with computational models and validating potential interventions in organ-on-a-chip models using metabolomics as read-out, therapeutic interventions will be evaluated and prioritised and allowing stratification of patients. The data generated from this project will be translated to clinical practice by consortium partners within project runtime to support ICU care, as well as other patients at risk. In this way, COVID-19 patient care can be improved, monitor the effect of new and old drugs, and optimise diet and food supplements on a very short term.

The impact of the project goes beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic by providing a roadmap for the identification, patient stratification, and improved treatment of other viral infections (known and unknown, such as SARS/MERS-like viruses, Flu viruses, HIV, Hepatitis, Ebola virus) and other non-viral diseases.

Summary

COVID-19 care will benefit from personalized interventions for patient subgroups suggested by metabolomics, computational models and organ-on-a-chip models. We will employ metabolomics profiling of COVID-19 patient blood in order to identify prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for disease management, including prevention strategies, nutritional treatment and support.

Technology Readiness Level (TRL)

4 - 9

Time period

24 months

Partners