BlueberryNFT Collaborates with Repure Life Sciences and Yonsei Severance Hospital to Discover 'COVID-19 Recovery Biomarkers'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] BlueberryNFT announced on the 27th that it has discovered a 'COVID-19 Recovery Biomarker' in collaboration with RePure Life Sciences and Yonsei University Severance Hospital.

In June of last year, BlueberryNFT, RePure Life Sciences, and Yonsei University Severance Hospital began joint research aimed at developing antibody therapeutics derived from plasma of COVID-19 recovered patients. On the 26th, they jointly filed a patent for the results of this research.

This research utilized the latest omics analysis and bioinformatics on plasma samples from a COVID-19 non-infected normal control group and a recovered group confirmed to have recovered after COVID-19 infection. Proteins specifically detectable in the plasma of the recovered group compared to the non-infected control group were identified. Through this, protein biomarkers necessary for infection diagnosis and treatment prognosis were discovered.

The study performed omics analysis using plasma samples from the non-infected control group and the COVID-19 recovered group, and analyzed the results using bioinformatics. Based on this, quantitative and qualitative information of the plasma proteome was extracted, and additional statistical analysis was conducted. By comparing the quantitative differences of proteins in plasma, it was found that the non-infected control group and the COVID-19 recovered group could be sufficiently distinguished.

Using the quantitative information of the identified proteins, nine proteins showing statistically significant changes of twofold or more between the two groups (three proteins increased in the recovered group and six proteins decreased) were derived. The research team explained that these nine proteins specific to the COVID-19 recovered group are expected to be utilized as biomarkers to monitor therapeutic efficacy during the treatment process after infection.

A company representative stated, “If the COVID-19 relevance of these proteins is further studied, they could be used as targets for future preventive and supplementary therapeutic development,” and added, “We are currently preparing not only the patent application but also the publication of related research results in international academic journals.”