Physical phenotype of blood cells is altered in COVID-19

  1. Markéta Kubánková
  2. Bettina Hohberger
  3. Jakob Hoffmanns
  4. Julia Fürst
  5. Martin Herrmann
  6. Jochen Guck
  7. Martin Kräter

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Abstract

No abstract available

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  3. Version published to 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.05.025
  4. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.02.12.429482: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: Informed written consent was obtained from all participants.
    IACUC: All experiments were performed according to the institutional guidelines and the ethical approval of the Ethical Committee of the University Medical Center of Erlangen (permits #193_13B and #174_20B and 295_20B).
    IRB: All experiments were performed according to the institutional guidelines and the ethical approval of the Ethical Committee of the University Medical Center of Erlangen (permits #193_13B and #174_20B and 295_20B).
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analysis was done in Python 3.7 using Kruskal-Wallis H-test and post-hoc Dunn’s test with Bonferroni correction.
    Python
    suggested: (IPython, RRID:SCR_001658)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    We are aware of certain limitations of our study, e.g. that it falls short of representative patient cohorts to compare mild with critical symptoms. Still, we were able to identify changes of blood cell physical phenotypes that did not return to the baseline healthy donor levels several months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, namely in erythrocytes and neutrophils. These alterations could be connected with long term symptoms of the recovered patients, of which 70% described chronic headache or neurological symptoms, 54% had concentration disorders and 62% circulatory problems like cold sweat and tachycardia. We hypothesize that the persisting changes of blood cell physical phenotypes could contribute to the impairment of circulation and oxygen delivery in coronavirus long haulers (17). Taken together, label-free physical phenotyping of blood cells with real-time deformability cytometry provides a fast, sensitive and unbiased way to feel for functional changes in cells. As such, deformability cytometry data has the potential to be used as a biomarker of COVID-19 and potentially other infectious diseases. In the future, RT-DC could be part of the first line of defense against an unknown virus during a pandemic.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No funding statement was detected.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  5. Version published to 10.1101/2021.02.12.429482v1 on bioRxiv