Researchers in Europe have identified 27 proteins in the blood of COVID-19 patients which may be able to help predict the severity of the infections. The findings, established by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in Britain and the Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin in Germany, were published Tuesday in the Journal “Cell Systems” and suggests that differing levels of these proteins appear in patients depending on the level of their symptoms.

These proteins could potentially serve as the basis for a new type of test to determine ahead of time how ill coronavirus patients might become. This would be especially valuable, as the virus has notably manifested differently in many people with some showing no symptoms at all and some becoming fatally sick.

“A test to help doctors predict whether a COVID-19 patient is likely to become critical or not would be invaluable,” Christoph Messner, co-leader of the research and molecular biology expert at the Crick Institute, said.

These findings are based on tests conducted on 31 coronavirus patients at the Charite hospital. The results were later validated with tests of 17 additional patients and 15 healthy individuals as a control group.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been over 6.3 million cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide as of Tuesday, resulting in nearly 378,000 reported deaths.

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