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[master rsi] 27/9/2020 22:16

Covid Doctors Find a Turning Point in Life-Threatening Cases
By Jason Gale - September 24, 2020,

When two brothers fell critically ill with Covid-19 around the same time in March, their doctors were baffled. Both were young -- 29 and 31 years old -- and healthy. Yet within days they couldn’t breathe on their own and, tragically, one of them died.

Two weeks later, when a second pair of Covid-stricken brothers, both in their 20s, also appeared in the Netherlands, geneticists were called in to investigate. What they uncovered was a path leading from severe cases, genetic variations, and gender differences to a loss of immune function that may ultimately yield a new approach to treating thousands of coronavirus patients.

The common thread in the research is the lack of a substance called interferon that helps orchestrate the body’s defense against viral pathogens and can be infused to treat conditions such as infectious hepatitis. Now, increasing evidence suggests that a significant minority of Covid-19 patients get very ill because of an impaired interferon response. Twin landmark studies published Thursday in the journal Science showed that insufficient interferon may lurk at a dangerous turning point in SARS-CoV-2 infections.

[master rsi] 27/9/2020 21:49

Early Covid Treatments Could Be a ‘Bridge’ to Vaccine
By Jason Gale -September 27, 2020, 12:13 AM GMT+1

Promising remedies may stop serious lung damage in patients
New research paves the way for interferon-based therapies

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Monoclonal antibodies that stop the coronavirus from spreading in the body are among promising strategies for averting severe illness from Covid-19 before vaccines arrive, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Antibody-based medications, other blood products from recovered patients and antivirals are being investigated as early treatments, Fauci said. The aim is to prevent patients from developing the serious lung damage for which Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone are administered.

[master rsi] 27/9/2020 21:26

What is the protein that could save the lives of patients infected with COVID-19
UniversalNet - Alexandru Leman - September 27, 2020

The journal Science recently published a study, cited by Bloomberg , according to which the reduced presence of interferon, a protein produced by immune system cells, can worsen the health of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Several serious cases of Covid-19, manifested in relatives, most often siblings, attracted the attention of researchers. In some of the situations investigated, the conclusion was that the body's late immune response led to the reproduction of larger amounts of Sars-Cov-2 virus.


"This virus seems to have a great trick," said Shane Crotty, a professor at the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology in California, author of the study.

This great trick is to avoid the initial immune response for a significant period of time and, in particular, to avoid an early response to interferon.

Interferon protects the body against viral pathogens and can be infused to treat conditions such as infectious hepatitis.

Studies published in the journal Science on Thursday showed that insufficient interferon can hide a dangerous turning point in SARS-CoV-2 infections. The paper highlights the potential of interferon-based therapies to increase a range of Covid-19 treatments. These treatments offer limited benefits and are usually used in very sick, hospitalized patients.

"We believe that synchronization can be essential because only in the early stages can we really fight the virus particles and the body can be protected against infection," said Alexander Hoischen, head of the genomics and immuno-genomics technology group at the University Medical Center. Radboud of Nijmegen.

* What interferon is and how the body's immune response works

The role of interferon is a new link in the complex interaction of the virus with the human immune system. Many patients suffer from the most serious complications due to an exaggerated immune reaction. But why reach for this reaction?

If enough interferon is available, in cases of Covid-19 it has a major influence on the severity of the disease. Ideally, the production of antiviral substance would be triggered when immune cells encounter SARS-CoV-2 genetic material, stopping rapid viral reproduction inside the body and avoiding complications.

But the SARS-CoV-2 virus has anti-interferon genes that can stop or antagonize interferon production or effect. If the interferon response is delayed and the amount of virus in the body rises to a high level, other parts of the immune system will be "awakened". This is the time that can trigger inflammation that affects the lungs, inflammation caused by an excessive immune response to the virus.

It is known that some people have problems fighting infections because they produce antibodies that inactivate their own interferon. On Thursday, a global consortium of researchers said such immune reactions to proteins could explain life-threatening Covid-19 pneumonia in at least 2.6% of women and 12.5% ​​of men.

Antibodies that block interferon have been found in 101 of 987 patients with severe disease, but none of the 663 with an asymptomatic or mild case, according to the study in the Journal of Science.

"These findings provide a first explanation for the higher number of men among patients with severe cases of Covid-19," say the researchers.

A mutation on the X chromosome has been discovered. Defects of this chromosome are more likely to affect men, who have only one specimen, while women have two.

Male mutations are rare - they occur in 1 in 10,000 people - and an unlikely explanation for the vast majority of severe cases of Covid-19. But studies indicate that different forms of interferon dysfunction can underlie up to 14% of critical patients and that screening and specific treatment can prevent serious illness and death.

* An experimental treatment has already been used in a study

An experimental drug was able to stop the progression of symptoms caused by infection with the new coronavirus in 79% of cases, in a study conducted in the United Kingdom.

The experimental drug, technically called SNG001, is a combination of interferon-beta produced by the British pharmaceutical company Synairgen. The drug was tested on patients with Covid-19 who needed oxygen.

The results of the study show that worsening of symptoms was avoided in 79% of patients receiving the medicine. Three people in the study died from Covid-19 after being randomly selected to receive a placebo. SNG001 contains a formula of interferon-beta, a natural protein that regulates antiviral reactions. The protein is also used as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.