PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Like priming a pump, cells damaged by chronic lung disease can result in severe COVID

Results from a TGen-led international study suggest that SARS-CoV-2 takes advantage of genetic changes among patients with pre-existing lung diseases

2021-07-14
(Press-News.org) PHOENIX, Ariz. -- July 14, 2021 -- The results of a study by an international scientific team co-led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest that -- like pouring water atop a wellhead before pumping -- the airway cells of patients with chronic lung diseases are "primed" for infection by the COVID-19 virus, resulting in more severe symptoms, poorer outcomes and a greater likelihood of death.

The study -- published today in Nature Communications -- details the genetic changes caused by chronic lung disease in the molecular makeup of a variety of cells, including the epithelial cells that line the lung and airways. The study details how those changes can help enable SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to enter the body, replicate and trigger an out-of-control immune response that fills the lungs with fluids and often results in patients needing respirators and lengthy hospitalizations.

The team used single-cell RNA sequencing technology to spell out the genetic code of 611,398 cells from various data bases, representing those with both healthy (control) lungs and those with chronic lung disease. Sequencing and analysis allowed researchers to identify molecular characteristics that may account for worse COVID-19 outcomes.

"Our results suggest that patients with chronic lung disease are molecularly primed to be more susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2," said Nicholas Banovich, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in TGen's Integrated Cancer Genomics Division, and one of the study's senior authors. Dr. Banovich is a leading participant in the Human Cell Atlas Lung Biological Network, whose dozens of members, representing more than 80 institutions worldwide, also contributed to this study.

In addition, older-age, male-gender, smoking, and comorbidities such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, are all COVID-19 risk factors that are exacerbated by chronic lung diseases, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), and especially Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a progressive scaring and stiffening of the lung tissue.

"It was recognized early in the pandemic that patients with chronic lung diseases were at particularly high risk for severe COVID-19, and our goal was to gain insight into the cellular and molecular changes responsible for this," said Jonathan Kropski, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and a co-senior author of the study.

Changes in lung cells and immune cells

Researchers specifically searched for changes in AT2 cells, a major lung epithelial cell type, focusing on cellular pathways and expression levels of genes associated with COVID-19. They established a "viral entry score," a composite of all genes associated with SARS-CoV-2, and found higher scores among cells from patients with chronic lung disease.

They also explored changes in immune cells and discovered dysregulated gene expression associated with hyper-inflammation and with sustained cytokine production, two signature symptoms of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. So-called cytokine storms in COVID-19 patients unleash a cascade of immune cells that flood the lungs, causing severe organ damage.

"The genetic changes in immune cells, especially in specialized white blood cells known as T cells, may diminish the patient's immune response to viral infection and lead to higher risk of severe disease and poor outcomes in patients with chronic lung disease," said Linh Bui, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Banovich's lab, and one of the study's lead authors.

"Our data suggest that the immune microenvironment at both the molecular and cellular levels in lungs damaged by chronic diseases may promote severe COVID-19," Dr. Bui said.

Significant contributions to this study were made by: Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Baylor College of Medicine, and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Plus several institutes in the UK, including: London's Imperial College, Royal Brompton and Harefield National Health System Foundation Trust, Edinburgh University Medical School, and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

INFORMATION:

Major funding for this study -- Chronic lung diseases are associated with gene expression programs favoring SARS-CoV-2 entry and severity -- was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

About TGen, an affiliate of City of Hope Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based nonprofit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking research with life-changing results. TGen is affiliated with City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases: CityofHope.org. This precision medicine affiliation enables both institutes to complement each other in research and patient care, with City of Hope providing a significant clinical setting to advance scientific discoveries made by TGen. TGen is focused on helping patients with neurological disorders, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases through cutting-edge translational research (the process of rapidly moving research toward patient benefit). TGen physicians and scientists work to unravel the genetic components of both common and complex rare diseases in adults and children. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities worldwide, TGen makes a substantial contribution to help our patients through efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. For more information, visit: tgen.org. Follow TGen on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @TGen.

Media Contact: Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
syozwiak@tgen.org



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Rapid evolution in waterfleas yields new conservation insights

2021-07-14
The extraordinary ability of animals to rapidly evolve in response to predators has been demonstrated via genetic sequencing of a waterflea population across nearly two decades. In a new study, published in Nature Communications, scientists at the Universities of Birmingham in the UK, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, were able to identify more than 300 genes that vary in the genome of the waterflea. These genes, which account for about about 3 per cent of all sequenced waterflea genes, ...

Quantum physics helps destroy cancer cells

Quantum physics helps destroy cancer cells
2021-07-14
Cancer cell death is triggered within three days when X-rays are shone onto tumor tissue containing iodine-carrying nanoparticles. The iodine releases electrons that break the tumor's DNA, leading to cell death. The findings, by scientists at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) and colleagues in Japan and the US, were published in the journal Scientific Reports. "Exposing a metal to light leads to the release of electrons, a phenomenon called the photoelectric effect. An explanation of this phenomenon by Albert Einstein in 1905 heralded the birth of quantum physics," says iCeMS molecular biologist Fuyuhiko Tamanoi, who led the study. "Our research provides ...

New WHO study links moderate alcohol use with higher cancer risk

New WHO study links moderate alcohol use with higher cancer risk
2021-07-14
July 14, 2021 (Toronto) A new study from the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in the journal Lancet Oncology, has found an association between alcohol and a substantially higher risk of several forms of cancer, including breast, colon, and oral cancers. Increased risk was evident even among light to moderate drinkers (up to two drinks a day), who represented 1 in 7 of all new cancers in 2020 and more than 100,000 cases worldwide. In Canada, alcohol use was linked to 7,000 new cases of cancer in 2020, including 24 per cent of breast cancer cases, 20 per cent of colon cancers, 15 per cent of rectal cancers, and 13 per cent of oral and liver cancers. "All ...

Physicists describe sun's electric field

Physicists describe suns electric field
2021-07-14
As the Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the sun, we are learning new things about our home star. In a new study, physicists led by the University of Iowa report the first definitive measurements of the sun's electric field, and how the electric field interacts with the solar wind, the fast-flowing current of charged particles that can affect activities on Earth, from satellites to telecommunications. The physicists calculated the distribution of electrons within the sun's electric field, a feat made possible by the fact that the Parker Solar Probe jetted within 0.1 astronomical units (AU), or a mere 9 million miles, from the sun--closer than any spacecraft has approached. From the electrons' distribution, the physicists ...

Hard to swallow: Coral cells seen engulfing algae for first time

2021-07-14
For the first time, scientists have seen stony coral cells engulf dinoflagellates - single-celled, photosynthetic algae that are crucial for keeping coral alive The researchers used a cell line called IVB5, which contains endoderm-like cells cultured from the stony coral, Acropora tenuis Around 40% of coral cells incorporated the algae in around 30 minutes and remained healthy for one month The research is a step towards understanding the partnership between coral and dinoflagellates and could shed light on how coral bleaching occurs In a world-first, scientists in Japan have observed individual stony coral cells engulfing single-celled, photosynthetic algae. The microscopic algae, known as dinoflagellates, were ...

COVID precautions may result in more breast cancer deaths

2021-07-14
A new paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that disruptions in health care due to the COVID 19 pandemic may increase breast cancer deaths. In March 2020 public health measures prohibited most elective procedures, including mammography, due to hospital capacity and limited personal protective equipment. This reduced mammograms up to 80%. Breast cancer patients also experienced treatment delays and reductions in planned or expected chemotherapy treatments. Researchers here used three independently-developed breast cancer simulation models from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network to ...

Study finds "thriving gap" between students who attend high school remotely vs. in person

2021-07-14
Washington/Philadelphia, July 14, 2021--New research finds that high school students who attended school remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic suffered socially, emotionally, and academically compared with those who attended in person. The study was published today in Educational Researcher (ER) by researchers Angela L. Duckworth, Tim Kautz, Amy Defnet, Emma Satlof-Bedrick, Sean Talamas, Benjamin Lira, and Laurence Steinberg. ER is a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. "Many news stories have reported on individual stories of teenagers who have suffered from anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges during the pandemic," said lead author Duckworth, ...

Oncotarget: CEA as a blood-based biomarker in anal cancer

Oncotarget: CEA as a blood-based biomarker in anal cancer
2021-07-14
Oncotarget published "CEA as a blood-based biomarker in anal cancer" which reported that the mean Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) among subgroups by clinical status at the time of presentation to our institution was highest among those patients with metastatic Squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA) to visceral organs, however this finding was not statistically significant by ANOVA . By clinical subgroup, the percentage of patients with an abnormally elevated CEA was highest in those patients with metastatic disease to lymph nodes followed by recurrent/unresectable SCCA , and metastatic SCCA ...

A history of drug dependence is associated with negative mental health outcomes

2021-07-14
New research published online in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction found that Canadians with a history of drug dependence are much less likely to have flourishing mental health and are more likely to have mental illness. Researchers compared a nationally representative sample of 460 Canadians with a history of illicit drug dependence (excluding cannabis) to 20,305 Canadians with no history of illicit drug dependence using data drawn from Statistic Canada's Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health. While 80% of those with a history of drug dependence were in remission, more than half (52.1%) were still experiencing mental illness. Further, only 37.9% were in excellent mental health, which is markedly lower than the 74.1% of ...

Unlike other global crises, COVID-19 pandemic did not spark more smoking in its initial stage

2021-07-14
Unlike other population-level stressful events such as natural disasters, COVID-19 has not resulted in a net increase in smoking, according to a new study from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Project, at the University of Waterloo. The researchers also found that although nearly half of smokers reported that COVID-19 made them think about quitting, the vast majority of smokers did not change their smoking habits during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by Shannon Gravely, research assistant professor with the ITC Project, the study ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

CMD-OPT model enables the discovery of a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor as preclinical candidate for the treatment of acute liver injury

Melatonin receptor 1a alleviates sleep fragmentation-aggravated testicular injury in T2DM by suppression of TAB1/TAK1 complex through FGFR1

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction retards colorectal tumorigenesis by regulating the TMEM131–TNF signaling pathway-mediated differentiation of immunosuppressive dendritic ce

Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B Volume 15, Issue 7 Publishes

New research expands laser technology

Targeted radiation offers promise in patients with metastasized small cell lung cancer to the brain

A high clinically translatable strategy to anti-aging using hyaluronic acid and silk fibroin co-crosslinked hydrogels as dermal regenerative fillers

Mount Sinai researchers uncover differences in how males and females change their mind when reflecting on past mistakes

CTE and normal aging are difficult to distinguish, new study finds

Molecular arms race: How the genome defends itself against internal enemies

Tiny chip speeds up antibody mapping for faster vaccine design

KTU experts reveal why cultural heritage is important for community unity

More misfolded proteins than previously known may contribute to Alzheimer’s and dementia

“Too much going on”: Autistic adults overwhelmed by non-verbal social cues

What’s driving America’s deep freezes in a warming world?

A key role of brain protein in learning and memory is deciphered by scientists

Heart attacks don’t follow a Hollywood script

Erin M. Schuman wins 2026 Nakasone Award for discovery on neural synapse function and change during formation of memories

Global ocean analysis could replace costly in-situ sound speed profiles in seafloor positioning, study finds

Power in numbers: Small group professional coaching reduces rates of physician burnout by nearly 30%

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: A comprehensive review of CCUS-EOR

New high-temperature stable dispersed particle gel for enhanced profile control in CCUS applications

State gun laws and firearm-related homicides and suicides

Use of tobacco and cannabis following state-level cannabis legalization

Long-term obesity and biological aging in young adults

Eindhoven University of Technology and JMIR Publications announce unlimited open access publishing agreement

Orphan nuclear receptors in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease development

A technological breakthrough for ultra-fast and greener AI

Pusan National University researchers identify key barriers hindering data-driven smart manufacturing adoption

Inking heterometallic nanosheets: A scalable breakthrough for coating, electronics, and electrocatalyst applications

[Press-News.org] Like priming a pump, cells damaged by chronic lung disease can result in severe COVID
Results from a TGen-led international study suggest that SARS-CoV-2 takes advantage of genetic changes among patients with pre-existing lung diseases