How Does Uncontrolled Inflammation Occur In COVID-19?
The alteration in production of protective molecules known as specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPM) in COVID-19 patients has been discovered.
A new study published in the journal Circulation Research suggests that COVID-19 treatment with drugs that increase SPM production, such as dexamethasone or SPM based drugs can play a key role in limiting inflammation in these patients.
‘New insight into specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPM) mechanism production that led to uncontrolled inflammation in COVID-19 patients is revealed.’
The understanding around the mechanisms that lead to uncontrolled inflammation in COVID-19 patients is little but the new study discovered a link between decreased SPM blood levels and disrupted white blood cell responses in severe COVID-19 patients.
The study findings also revealed that dexamethasone, the first drug approved for COVID-19 treatment increased the levels of these protective molecules in these patients.
Furthermore, treatment of white blood cells with SPM improved their function and reduced the expression of molecules linked to the spread of inflammation.
Understanding these mechanisms will help provide new leads into the development of treatments to limit disease severity in COVID-19 patients.
This study also offers a new insight into the disrupted biological processes that contribute to increased disease severity in COVID-19 patients.
Jesmond Dalli, Professor in Molecular Pharmacology and Lipid Mediator Unit Director at Queen Mary University of London said: "The observation that dexamethasone increased the production of SPM was a surprising finding. This finding suggests that SPM may serve as biomarkers to determine the efficacy of this drug in limiting inflammation in patients with COVID-19. Another surprising finding was that blood levels of these molecules remained altered several weeks after resolution of clinical symptoms".
This study is the first to relate the impact that COVID-19 infections on immune responses and to explore the utility of using SPM to rectify white blood cell behavior.
SPM and SPM-based therapeutics may be useful in the treatment of infections to limit inflammation without compromising the ability of the immune system to deal with the invading pathogen.
Source: Medindia