For many COVID-19 patients battling for their lives in the ICU, a runaway immune system response -- known as a 'cytokine storm' -- is their primary foe. New research is suggesting a new tool that might help combat it.
TUESDAY, April 28, 2020 -- For many COVID-19 patients battling for their lives in the ICU, a runawayDoctors have few tools to help tame this hyperinflammatory condition, but early research is suggesting that nanotechnology might safely deliver drugs to affected tissues, quieting the storm.
Inflammatory processes harm cells at multiple sites throughout the body and, if unchecked, this can lead to organ failure and death, noted a team led by Dr. Patrick Couvreur at the Institute Galien Paris-Sud, in France. It's a powerful anti-inflammatory compound -- maybe too powerful. If simply injected into the body, adenosine can trigger serious side effects, the research team said.Couvreur's team created"multi-drug nanoparticles" by adding adenosine to squalene, a type of fat also found naturally in the body. Then they"encapsulated" both in the powerful antioxidant alpha-tocopherol, a type of vitamin E.
Of course, this study was conducted in mice, and many therapies that appear promising in animals don't pan out in humans. But Dr. Matthew Heinz, an expert in the fight against infectious diseases, said the findings do"make sense."
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