We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
ARAB HEALTH - INFORMA

Download Mobile App





International Consortium Investigates Overactive Immune Cells as Cause of COVID-19 Deaths

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 28 Apr 2020
Print article
Image: International consortium investigates overactive immune cells as cause of COVID-19 deaths (Photo courtesy of McGill University)
Image: International consortium investigates overactive immune cells as cause of COVID-19 deaths (Photo courtesy of McGill University)
A group of 11 international medical research organizations has joined the urgent battle to treat COVID-19 patients by investigating whether overactive immune cells that produce Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) cause the most severe cases.

The consortium, called the NETwork, includes Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Patients with severe COVID-19 infection develop Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), pulmonary inflammation, thick mucus secretions in the airways, extensive lung damage, and blood clots. This late stage of the disease is difficult to manage. In the worst cases, patients require invasive mechanical ventilation, and still, a large number of patients die. The NETwork suggests that the severity of COVID-19 may result from overactive white blood cells known as the neutrophils. Part of the body’s immune system, neutrophils detect bacteria and can expel their DNA to attack the bacteria with a gauzy web of DNA laced with toxic enzymes, called a NET. These NETs can ensnare and digest the unwanted pathogen but in cases of ARDS, they damage the lungs and other organs.

Researchers at the 11 NETwork institutions are now pursuing studies into whether NETs are a common feature in COVID-19 cases. If their findings show that excess NETs cause the severe symptoms of COVID-19, then a new avenue of treatments may be deployed to help COVID-19 patients. Current treatments used in other NET and neutrophil-driven diseases–like cystic fibrosis, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis–might dampen the activity of NETs in COVID-19 patients, reducing the need for invasive mechanical ventilation.

“Given the clear similarities between the clinical presentation of severe COVID-19 and other known diseases driven by NETs, such as ARDS, we propose that excess NETs may play a major role in the disease,” said Betsy Barnes, PhD, lead and co-corresponding author of the paper and professor at the Feinstein Institutes. “As samples from patients become available, it will be important to determine whether the presence of NETs associates with disease severity and/or particular clinical characteristics of COVID-19.”

“NETs were identified in 2004, but many scientists have never heard of them. Most of the researchers in the NETwork have worked on NETs in other diseases, and when we started hearing about the symptoms of the COVID-19 patients, it sounded familiar,” said Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory cancer biologist Mikala Egeblad, PhD, who coalesced the NETwork research group around COVID-19.

“We see in these patients severe lung damage known as ARDS, another serious problem caused by excess NETs and seen in cases of severe influenza,” said Jonathan Spicer, MD PhD, a clinician scientist at the RI-MUHC and assistant professor of Surgery at McGill University who is a thoracic surgeon and has witnessed the devastating effects of COVID-19 infection at the bedside. “In addition, their airways are often clogged with thick mucus and unlike most severe lung infections, these patients tend to form small clots throughout their body at much higher rates than normal. NETs have also been found in the blood of patients with sepsis or cancer, where they can facilitate the formation of such blood clots.”




Gold Member
POC Blood Gas Analyzer
Stat Profile Prime Plus
Gold Member
SARS‑CoV‑2/Flu A/Flu B/RSV Sample-To-Answer Test
SARS‑CoV‑2/Flu A/Flu B/RSV Cartridge (CE-IVD)
New
Mattress Replacement System
Carilex DualPlus
New
Mobile Barrier
Tilted Mobile Leaded Barrier

Print article

Channels

Critical Care

view channel
Image: The Gastric Alimetry system is a medical device which performs Body Surface Gastric Mapping (Photo courtesy of Alimetry)

AI-Powered Wearable Device Revolutionizes Gut Health Diagnosis

Approximately one in 10 individuals experience chronic gut symptoms, including abdominal pain, chronic indigestion, nausea, and vomiting. The current diagnostic process for these conditions is slow and... Read more

Surgical Techniques

view channel
Image: The DigiLoupes Headset (Photo courtesy of Ocutrx Technologies)

Innovative Headset Featuring Advanced AR, XR and Pancake Lens Technology to Transform Surgery

A cutting-edge headset incorporating advanced augmented reality (AR), XR, and state-of-the-art lens technologies has been developed to replace traditional "chin-on-chest" medical loupes, offering a significant... Read more

Patient Care

view channel
Image: The portable biosensor platform uses printed electrochemical sensors for the rapid, selective detection of Staphylococcus aureus (Photo courtesy of AIMPLAS)

Portable Biosensor Platform to Reduce Hospital-Acquired Infections

Approximately 4 million patients in the European Union acquire healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) or nosocomial infections each year, with around 37,000 deaths directly resulting from these infections,... Read more

Health IT

view channel
Image: First ever institution-specific model provides significant performance advantage over current population-derived models (Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai)

Machine Learning Model Improves Mortality Risk Prediction for Cardiac Surgery Patients

Machine learning algorithms have been deployed to create predictive models in various medical fields, with some demonstrating improved outcomes compared to their standard-of-care counterparts.... Read more

Point of Care

view channel
Image: The acoustic pipette uses sound waves to test for biomarkers in blood (Photo courtesy of Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder)

Handheld, Sound-Based Diagnostic System Delivers Bedside Blood Test Results in An Hour

Patients who go to a doctor for a blood test often have to contend with a needle and syringe, followed by a long wait—sometimes hours or even days—for lab results. Scientists have been working hard to... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.