COVID-19 : Study of INFLAmmasome and PLAtelets Functions

The new Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic started on
December 2019 in China and spreaded in worldwide. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is
responsible of case of severe pneumonia whose the major risk is the development to ARDS.
Concerning the pathophysiology, there appear to be hemostasis abnormalities including
thrombocytopenia and coagulopathy. In recent studies, this thrombocytopenia is described as a
risk factor to develop severe COVID-19 infection. Sepsis is associated with a major systemic
inflammatory response with an increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Since their
discovery, inflammasomes have an important role during inflammatory response following an
aggression. There are intracytoplasmic multiprotein complex activated by cellular stress or
infections and is responsible for the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β.
Most studies have analysed inflammasomes in nucleated cells, nevertheless, little is known
about inflammasomes in platelets.

Thus, the present work aims to study the activation of the platelet NLRP3 inflammasome and
the platelet functions and coagulation during a SARS-CoV-2 viral pneumonia according to
different levels of severity