Analysing blood samples from COVID-19 patients who have ongoing heart inflammation, to understand what causes this and to help develop new treatments to protect against heart damage during COVID-19 recovery.
Diagnostic
This project centred around exploring the role of the immune system in long term heart inflammation, within the specific context of COVID-19 infection.
The aims of the project were three-fold, first to identify blood markers of heart inflammation, then understand the mechanism of this inflammation and finally to explore potential drug therapeutic targets.
Using a novel technique known as “spectral cytometry”, the team were able to analyse frozen blood samples from over 200 patients that had contracted a mild form of COVID-19 but had persisting heart-based symptoms.
The main finding of the project was that the loss of a protein called PD-1 was linked to long term inflammation of the heart. Vaccination 6 months after infection partially recovered PD-1 function, with a strong hypothesis that early vaccination could prevent the occurrence of PD-1 loss, and subsequent cardiac inflammation.
This finding presents potential routes for the prevention and treatment of heart inflammation in long COVID.
The development of a new AI-supported model for imaging the heart based on data from over 700 people with atrial fibrillation, allow ablation to be more personalised to individual patients.
Bringing together patients and medical professionals to establish a partnership aimed at identifying areas of priority in adult cardiac surgery, to better inform clinicians and make heart surgery safer for patients.
Developing an AI-assisted computer programme to identify whether a conduction system pacing (CSP) procedure has been successful, which will allow more patients to benefit from this innovative pacemaker technology.
Developing a new test to measure the levels of desmosine in the body, which are higher when there is damage to the aorta, to diagnose aortic dissection more quickly.
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