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

New insights into uncontrolled inflammation in COVID-19 patients

Research led by Queen Mary University of London provides new insight into the mechanisms that lead to uncontrolled inflammation in COVID-19 patients

2021-07-22
(Press-News.org) In a new study, published recently in the journal Circulation Research, scientists discover how the production of protective molecules known as specialised pro-resolving mediators (SPM) is altered in patients with COVID-19.

The results suggest that treatments which increase SPM production, such as dexamethasone or SPM based drugs, could play a key role in limiting inflammation in these patients.

Currently there is little understanding around the mechanisms that lead to uncontrolled inflammation in patients with COVID-19.

The study found a link between decreased SPM blood levels and disrupted white blood cell responses in patients with a higher disease burden. The findings also revealed that dexamethasone, the first drug approved for treatment of patients with COVID-19, 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 patients with COVID-19.

This study offers a new insight into the disrupted biological processes that contribute to increased disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Results suggest that treatments which increase SPM production, such as dexamethasone or SPM based drugs, could play a key role in limiting inflammation in this patient group.

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." "Our results are 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 behaviour. Given the extensive body of literature demonstrating the protective role of these molecules in limiting inflammation in both viral and bacterial infections these results suggest that 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".

Mauro Perretti (Dean for Research, School of Medicine and Dentistry) said: "This study is a perfect example of a productive partnership between Barts and the London School of Medicine at Queen Mary and Barts NHS Trust, a partnership established in difficult circumstances yet successful thanks to the will and commitment of our scientists and clinicians. The paper presents world class data on how resolution pathways impact on COVID infection, opening opportunities for new therapies and new markers to predict patient outcome".

INFORMATION:

Further information

* Research paper: "Disrupted Resolution Mechanisms Favor Altered Phagocyte Responses in Covid-19". Circulation Research. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.121.319142



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Informing policy for long-term global food security

2021-07-22
More than 820 million people in the world don't have enough to eat, while climate change and increasing competition for land and water are further raising concerns about the future balance between food demand and supply. The results of a new IIASA-led study can be used to benchmark global food security projections and inform policy analysis and public debate on the future of food. Despite the fact that food supply has increased dramatically since the 1960s, the question of how to eradicate global hunger - one of the Sustainable Development Goals - and feed the growing world population in years to come, remains a major challenge. Climate change and increasing competition ...

Cannabidiol promotes oral ulcer healing by inactivating CMPK2-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome

2021-07-22
Alexandria, Va., USA - Xingying Qi, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, presented the oral session "Cannabidiol Promotes Oral Ulcer Healing by Inactivating CMPK2-Mediated NLRP3 Inflammasome" at the virtual 99th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), held in conjunction with the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) and the 45th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), on July 21-24, 2021. The oral ulcer is a common oral inflammatory lesion with severe pain but little ...

Longitudinal serological and vaccination responses to SARS-COV-2 in dental professionals

2021-07-22
Alexandria, Va., USA - Iain Chapple, University of Birmingham, England, presented the oral session "Longitudinal Serological and Vaccination Responses to SARS-COV-2 in Dental Professionals" at the virtual 99th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), held in conjunction with the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) and the 45th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), on July 21-24, 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted ...

New study reports strong indications of freshened groundwater offshore the Maltese Islands

New study reports strong indications of freshened groundwater offshore the Maltese Islands
2021-07-22
An international team of scientists has reported strong indications of freshened groundwater offshore the coastline between Valletta and Marsascala, in the south-east of Malta. This discovery is based on an oceanographic expedition carried out in 2018. Seismic reflection profiles acquired during this expedition were used to generate a geological model of the seafloor offshore the Maltese Islands, whereas electromagnetic surveying was carried out to identify resistivity anomalies, or high values of electromagnetic resistivity beneath the seafloor. These observations indicate that freshened groundwater occurs as an isolated body hosted in Globigerina Limestone located 3 ...

Burden of oral diseases in emerging countries: A prediction model

2021-07-22
Alexandria, Va., USA - Jiachen Lin, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass., USA., presented the poster "Burden of Oral Diseases in Emerging Countries: A Prediction Model" at the virtual 99th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), held in conjunction with the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) and the 45th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), on July 21-24, 2021. The goal of this study was to investigate the burden of oral diseases and predict trends by 2025 in the U.S. and emerging countries. Global Burden of Disease data from 1990-2017 was used to analyze the prevalence and disability-adjusted life years of oral diseases ...

Generation and application of the high-Q resonance in all-dielectric metasurfaces

Generation and application of the high-Q resonance in all-dielectric metasurfaces
2021-07-22
In a new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI 10.29026/oea.2021.200030 , Researchers led by Professor Liu Yan from Xidian University, China and Professor Gan Xuetao from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China consider generation and application of the high-Q resonance in all-dielectric metasurfaces. Metamaterials are artificial composite electromagnetic structures consisting of subwavelength units, which can realize efficient and flexible control of the electromagnetic waves. Metamaterials are an emerging research area for optoelectronics, physics, chemistry and materials, due to their novel ...

Cardio-cerebrovascular disease history complicates hematopoietic cell transplant outcomes

Cardio-cerebrovascular disease history complicates hematopoietic cell transplant outcomes
2021-07-22
Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a recognized treatment option for certain blood and bone marrow cancers as well as some autoimmune and hereditary disorders. Performed to replace or modulate the body's malfunctioning hematopoietic system (which produces blood cells) or a compromised immune system following a medical condition or treatment, HCT can be autologous or allogenic. In autologous HCT, a patient's own stem cells are injected into the bloodstream, while in allogenic HCT donor stem cells are used. Although a difficult procedure, over the years, the safety of HCT has been improved ...

UCI scientists make X-ray vision-like camera to rapidly retrieve 3D images

UCI scientists make X-ray vision-like camera to rapidly retrieve 3D images
2021-07-22
Irvine, Calif., July 21, 2021 -- It's not exactly X-ray vision, but it's close. In research published in the journal Optica, University of California, Irvine researchers describe a new type of camera technology that, when aimed at an object, can rapidly retrieve 3D images, displaying its chemical content down to the micrometer scale. The new tech promises to help companies inspect things like the insides of computer chips without having to pry them open -- an advancement the researchers say could accelerate the production time of such goods by more than a hundred times. "This is a paper about a way to visualize things in 3D very fast, even at video rate," said Dmitry Fishman - director of laser spectroscopy labs in the UCI Department of ...

'Backpacking' hedgehogs take permanent staycation

Backpacking hedgehogs take permanent staycation
2021-07-22
New University of Otago research has been examining how alpine-based hedgehogs hibernate from a different perspective - their backs. Dr Nick Foster from the Department of Zoology has been involved with the Te Manahuna Aoraki project and has been attaching small transmitting 'backpacks' onto hedgehogs in the Mackenzie Basin's alpine zones. The mammals are considered pests in New Zealand for the damage they cause to native insects and wildlife throughout the country. The goal of this study, which has just been published in the New Zealand Journal of Ecology, was to find out whether hedgehogs, which can be found up to 2000 metres in summer, travel ...

Scientists provide new insight on how to stop transcription of cancer cells

2021-07-22
FINDINGS Scientists from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a key protein, transcription factor TAF12, that plays a critical role in the formation of a preinitiation complex, which consists of over one hundred proteins that are necessary for the transcription of protein-coding genes. The team found by eliminating TAF12, the entire preinitiation complex is destroyed and the genome-wide transcription is downregulated drastically. The findings could help pave the way for cancer therapies that target TAF12, potentially stopping transcription in cancer cells and helping decrease the growth of cancerous tumors. TAF12 had previously been shown by ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Antiretroviral drugs for treatment and prevention of HIV in adults: 2024 recommendations of the International Antiviral Society–USA Panel

Virginie McNamar appointed President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of SynGAP Research Fund (SRF) dba Cure SYNGAP1

Planetary boundaries: Confronting the global crisis of land degradation; Potsdam institute report opens UNCCD COP 16

VUMC and Philips landmark emissions assessment of a radiology department published in premier industry journal

When devices can read human emotions without a camera

Warming temperatures impact immune performance of wild monkeys, U-M study shows

Fine particulate air pollution may play a role in adverse birth outcomes

Sea anemone study shows how animals stay ‘in shape’

KIER unveils catalyst innovations for sustainable turquoise hydrogen solutions

Bacteria ditch tags to dodge antibiotics

New insights in plant response to high temperatures and drought

Strategies for safe and equitable access to water: a catalyst for global peace and security

CNIO opens up new research pathways against paediatric cancer Ewing sarcoma by discovering mechanisms that make it more aggressive

Disease severity staging system for NOTCH3-associated small vessel disease, including CADASIL

Satellite evidence bolsters case that climate change caused mass elephant die-off

Unique killer whale pod may have acquired special skills to hunt the world’s largest fish

Emory-led Lancet review highlights racial disparities in sudden cardiac arrest and death among athletes

A new approach to predicting malaria drug resistance

Coral adaptation unlikely to keep pace with global warming

Bioinspired droplet-based systems herald a new era in biocompatible devices

A fossil first: Scientists find 1.5-million-year-old footprints of two different species of human ancestors at same spot

The key to “climate smart” agriculture might be through its value chain

These hibernating squirrels could use a drink—but don’t feel the thirst

New footprints offer evidence of co-existing hominid species 1.5 million years ago

Moral outrage helps misinformation spread through social media

U-M, multinational team of scientists reveal structural link for initiation of protein synthesis in bacteria

New paper calls for harnessing agrifood value chains to help farmers be climate-smart

Preschool education: A key to supporting allophone children

CNIC scientists discover a key mechanism in fat cells that protects the body against energetic excess

Chemical replacement of TNT explosive more harmful to plants, study shows

[Press-News.org] New insights into uncontrolled inflammation in COVID-19 patients
Research led by Queen Mary University of London provides new insight into the mechanisms that lead to uncontrolled inflammation in COVID-19 patients