Researchers propose novel approach to limit organ damage for patients
with severe COVID-19

Date:
July 8, 2020
Source:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Summary:
In a new paper, researchers propose that controlling the local and
systemic inflammatory response in COVID-19 may be as important as
anti- viral and other therapies.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently experience a life-threatening
immune reaction, sometimes called a cytokine storm, which can lead
to respiratory failure, organ damage and potentially death. With no FDA-approved treatment currently available for SARS-CoV-2, the virus
that causes COVID-19, researchers are racing to find ways to stop the
virus or the inflammatory overreaction it provokes in its tracks.


==========================================================================
In a paper published in Cancer and Metastasis Reviews and selected by
the journal as the featured publication, a team of researchers from
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital
propose that controlling the local and systemic inflammatory response
in COVID-19 may be as important as anti-viral and other therapies.

Led by Dipak Panigrahy, MD, of the Cancer Center at BIDMC, and Charles N.

Serhan, PhD, DSc, director of the Center of Experimental Therapeutics
and a member of the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and
Pain Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the researchers suggest
that a family of molecules naturally produced by the human body may
be harnessed to resolve inflammation in patients with severe COVID-19,
thereby reducing the acute respiratory distress and other life-threatening complications associated with the viral infection.

"Controlling the body's inflammatory response is key to the management of COVID-19 and may be as important to managing the pandemic as anti-viral therapies or a vaccine," Panigrahy said. "Our team proposes using
molecules made by the body called pro-resolution lipid mediators --
which are currently in clinical trials for other inflammatory diseases
-- as a novel approach to turning off the inflammation and preventing
the cytokine storm caused by COVID- 19." Cytokines are released by
the body as part of its normal immune response to injured or infected
tissues. Typically, the body also releases chemicals to put an end to --
or resolve -- the inflammatory response. But in a significant percentage
of patients with severe COVID-19, the cytokines unleashed to kill the
virus also do damage to infected lung cells. In turn, this injury to
the lung tissues triggers additional inflammation, and the so-called
"cytokine storm" begins to spiral out of control.

Naturally occurring molecules called resolvins -- discovered by Serhan and colleagues at BWH in 2002 -- actively turn off inflammation. Panigrahy,
Serhan and colleagues have previously demonstrated that resolvins
and related pro- resolution molecules could play a role in preventing
cancer metastasis and progression. This class of molecules are also
currently in clinical trials investigating their use against other
inflammatory diseases, such as ocular, periodontal, and inflammatory
bowel disease. Now, the scientists suggest, they could be re-deployed
for the management of COVID-19.

"A paradigm shift is emerging in our understanding of the resolution of inflammation as an active biochemical process," said Serhan. "Activating
the body's own resolution pathways with the use of resolvins and related
pro- resolution molecules -- which, importantly, promote blog clot removal
-- may complement current treatment strategies while limiting severe
organ damage and improving outcomes in COVID-19 patients." The Panigrahy laboratory is supported by the Credit Unions Kids at Heart Team; the
C.J. Buckley Pediatric Brain Tumor Fund; and the Joe Andruzzi Foundation.

This work also was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes
of Health grants, including (R01GM038765).


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Beth_Israel_Deaconess_Medical_Center. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Dipak Panigrahy, Molly M. Gilligan, Sui Huang, Allison Gartung,
Irene
Corte's-Puch, Patricia J. Sime, Richard P. Phipps, Charles
N. Serhan, Bruce D. Hammock. Inflammation resolution:
a dual-pronged approach to averting cytokine storms in
COVID-19? Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2020; 39 (2): 337 DOI:
10.1007/s10555-020-09889-4 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200708135950.htm

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