Ancient Part of Immune System May Underpin Severe COVID
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:
Ancient part of immune system may underpin severe COVID:
One of the immune system's oldest branches, called complement, may be influencing the severity of COVID disease, according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Among other findings linking complement to COVID, the researchers found that people with age-related macular degeneration -- a disorder caused by overactive complement -- are at greater risk of developing severe complications and dying from COVID.
The connection with complement suggests that existing drugs that inhibit the complement system could help treat patients with severe disease.
The study was published on Aug. 3 in Nature Medicine.
The authors also found evidence that clotting activity is linked to COVID severity and that mutations in certain complement and coagulation genes are associated with hospitalization of COVID patients.
"Together these results provide important insights into the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and paint a picture for the role of complement and coagulation pathways in determining clinical outcomes of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2," says Sagi Shapira, PhD, MPH, who led the study with Nicholas Tatonetti, PhD, both professors at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Journal Reference:
Vijendra Ramlall, Phyllis M. Thangaraj, Cem Meydan, et al. Immune complement and coagulation dysfunction in adverse outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection [open], Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-1021-2)
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