CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- UVA Health experts may soon know what causes some people to get severe cases of COVID-19 and long COVID.

A team of UVA researchers examined plasma samples collected from 67 volunteers with moderate or severe COVID-19. 

The researchers compared what they found with plasma collected in 2018, prior to the beginning of the pandemic. 

Results showed that some patients had antibodies that acted like enzymes, or abzymes, that regulate important functions – like blood pressure. 

“The hope is if these antibodies that act like enzymes really are the cause of some of these problems then that’s the cause. Then, you could develop a treatment against those antibodies,” said Dr. Steven Zeichner, professor of pediatrics and microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology at UVA.

Zeichner, who is developing a universal coronavirus vaccine, expects UVA’s new findings will renew interest in abzymes in medical research. He also hopes his discovery will lead to better treatments for patients with both acute COVID-19 and long COVID.