SARS-CoV-2 prevents repair and regeneration of lung tissue – sciencedaily

Although the study is small – lung samples from 18 cases and plasma samples from six of those cases – scientists say their data has revealed trends that could help develop new COVID-19 therapies and to refine when to use existing therapies at different stages of disease progression. The findings include details of how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spreads in the lungs, manipulates the immune system, causes generalized thrombosis that does not resolve, and targets pathways. signaling that promote lung failure, fibrosis and impair tissue repair. Researchers say the data is particularly relevant for the care of COVID-19 patients who are elderly, obese or diabetic – all considered high-risk populations for severe cases. The study samples were from patients who had at least one high-risk condition.

The study included patients who died between March and July 2020, with the time of death ranging from three to 47 days after the onset of symptoms. This varied schedule allowed scientists to compare cases in the short, medium and long term. Each case has shown results consistent with diffuse alveolar damage, which prevents proper flow of oxygen in the blood and eventually thickens and stiffens the lungs.

They also found that SARS-CoV-2 directly infected basal epithelial cells in the lungs, hampering their essential function of repairing damaged airways and lungs and generating healthy tissue. The process is different from how influenza viruses attack cells in the lungs. This provides scientists with additional information to use when evaluating or developing antiviral therapies.

Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH led the project in collaboration with the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the United States Food and Drug Administration. Other collaborators included the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle; University of Illinois, Champaign; Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California .; USC Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles; University of Washington Harborview Medical Center, Seattle; University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington; and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

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