HEROS Study By Henry Ford Health System

Henry Ford Health System is first in the country to obtain a sufferer in the Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) study, which aims to help manage the rate of SARS-CoV-2.

This disease makes COVID-19, among U.S. kids and their family members, and what portion of infants affected with SARS-CoV-2 improve signs of the condition.

The research will also consider whether rates of SARS-CoV-2 disease differ among kids who have asthma or other allergic diseases and kids who do not. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is sponsoring and funding the HEROS research.

Henry Ford is the only health policy in Michigan competing in the HEROS research.

The Research Team

The HEROS research team is immediately enrolling 6,000 people from 2,000 U.S. families already engaging in NIH-funded pediatric research studies in 11 cities. The research team will prospectively support these kids and their families for six months to decide who gets affected with SARS-CoV-2, whether the virus is given to other family members, and which family members with the disease develop COVID-19.

Leading the HEROS research is Tina V. Hartert, M.D., MPH. Dr. Hartert is director of the Center for Asthma and Environmental Sciences Research, vice president for translational study, the Lulu H. Owen Chair in Medicine, and a professor of medication at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

“We are still early in this pandemic, and there is a lot that we still do not know regarding SARS-CoV-2 disease, including why kids are fortunately less likely to become critically ill when affected,” stated Dr. Hartert.

The Knowledge Gap

“The combined expertise and participation of Dr. Johnson and her team at Henry Ford health system have been important to launching this much-needed population research that includes testing kids and families over months, including for the presence of immunoglobulins in the blood as a marker of the previous disease.

The HEROS research will fill critical knowledge gaps that will help to inform public health attacks.”

Preliminary data suggests that having an allergic disease paradoxically may decrease a person’s sensitivity to SARS-CoV-2 disease and severe COVID-19 illness.

An NIAID-funded research recently tried upper and lower airway cells for the creation of ACE2, the gene that codes for the receptor that the coronavirus uses to infect cells. ACE2 feeling is required for a cell to make this receptor, but further measures also are involved.

The Research Participation

In both kids and adults, respiratory allergy, asthma, and controlled allergen exposure were correlated with significantly decreased ACE2 expression. The definition of ACE2 was most profound in people with high levels of both asthma and hypersensitivity to allergens.

The HEROS study will further clarify whether decreased ACE2 gene expression in airway cells of kids with allergic conditions correlates with a lower rate of SARS-CoV-2 disease and COVID-19.

The research will be managed entirely remotely. Every two weeks, a caregiver in engaging families will collect nasal swabs from the child who is the first research participant and all other family members who are employed in the study and will mail the examples to a laboratory for analysis.

On the same day as the nasal swab, the caregiver will make online questionnaires about each participant’s popular signs, social distancing practices, recent projects outside the home, and new exposure to sick people.

The Research Associates

Furthermore, if any member of the family produces signs of a viral illness, the caregiver will fill out another online survey designed to determine the likelihood that the virus is COVID-19. If COVID-19 is likely, the caregiver will collect nasal swabs from all research associates and a stool sample from the significant member within 24 hours.

Laboratory reports of nasal swabs will test for SARS-CoV-2 and evaluate gene appearance in the consolidated airway-surface cells. Researchers hope that these gene composition subjects will show designs that correlate with a higher or lower risk of disease, COVID-19 symptom community, and SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

A caregiver also will obtain a blood sample from each study member two weeks, 18 weeks, and 24 weeks after registration as well as three weeks after the family’s first likely case of COVID-19, if there is one.

The blood will be obtained using a new, nearly painless device that removes a small amount of blood through the surface of the skin. The blood will be examined for immunoglobulins to SARS-CoV-2 once an appropriate antibody test matches available.