Impact of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) on the immune response

Summary

Little is known about how the immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 (also known as COVID-19), but getting a better understanding of this may help researchers develop effective treatments and vaccines, and may also help doctors treat people who get extremely ill from infection. To study the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, we want to collect blood samples from patients that have been infected with the virus, as well as healthy controls. We may also perform tests to determine your overall health, and whether you have any other medical comorbidities. We will perform short surveys with patients to determine which symptoms they experienced, whether they have any other medical conditions, and whether they felt stigma or mental health issues when they had COVID-19. This is not a drug treatment trial.

As people with medical comorbidities (i.e. other diseases before they contract SARS-CoV-2) can sometimes get sicker than patients without comorbidities, we will compare samples from patients that do or do not have any medical comorbidities and that have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. We are particularly interested in people with liver disease, but need people without liver disease as controls.

We hope to enroll up to 200 subjects who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 200 healthy controls.

Eligibility

Currently recruiting participants: Yes

Eligible gender: Male, Female, Transgender, Other

Eligible ages: 18 to 70

Accepts healthy participants: Yes

Inclusion criteria:

Inclusion criteria:
1) Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Can be active or recovered. We also want to include some healthy controls (people who have not been infected with SARS-CoV-2).
2) Aged between 18-70 years
3) Willing to provide informed consent to participate in the study
4) Willing to have trained phlebotomist draw blood sample in our research clinic.
5) Resident of the Calgary zone in Alberta, or willing to travel to the clinic in Calgary

Exclusion criteria:

Exclusion criteria:
1) Aged under 18 or above 70
2) Known infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or tuberculosis
3) Severe immunosuppression (e.g. on cancer chemotherapy, immunomodulatory therapy)
4) Unable or unwilling to provide informed consent

Participate

Fill out the following form if you want to participate in this research

Method of contact

Additional information

Contact information

Gurmeet Bindra- Research Coordinator, primary contact. Contact at gkbindra@ucalgary.ca or 403-210-7013.

Principal investigator:

Carla Coffin

Clinical trial:

No

REB-ID:

REB20-0750