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Key Driver Of COVID-19 Severity Identified: Lung Damage Linked To Loss Of Macrophages

Key Driver Of COVID-19 Severity Identified: Lung Damage Linked To Loss Of Macrophages

A shift in macrophage composition in the lung may be associated with COVID-19 severity and lung damage, says a new study.

Written by Longjam Dineshwori |Updated : October 6, 2022 10:29 AM IST

It's been nearly three years now since the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began to spread worldwide. Although development of vaccines and new therapeutic strategies has helped reduced COVID-19 deaths significantly, the virus continues to mutate, resulting in the appearance of more variants and subvariants, some of which are even more contagious and cause more severe disease. Talking about COVID-19 severity, a research team from Mount Sinai Hospital has identified the main culprit behind it and suggested a new therapeutic strategy for treating viral lung diseases.

The researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said that COVID-19 severity is mainly driven by immune cell dysregulation. According to them, lung damage is associated with the loss of macrophages (immune cells found in the lung that organize tissue repair), and subsequent influx of new cells from the blood into the lung that leads to inflammation.

Hence, they believed that preventing the loss of macrophages and blocking the entry of inflammatory cells may be a better way treat COVID-19 and other viral lung diseases.

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They came to conclusion after studying blood and lung fluid samples of COVID-19 patients collected during the peak of the pandemic in New York City. They reported their findings in the September 14 edition of Science Translational Medicine.

Why older people are more likely to suffer COVID-19 severity?

As explained by the researchers, older adults have fewer macrophages and can produce more inflammatory blood-derived macrophages, which supposedly make them more susceptible to COVID-19 severity.

The study also underscored the need to improve measurements of the immune system in patients. This could help identify their disease drivers and accordingly tailor their therapeutic strategies, they said.

They believe that restoring reparative lung resident macrophages may significantly benefit some COVID-19 patients.

Talking about the methods they have used to identify the potential disease severity drivers; they mentioned serum proteomics and immune cell phenotyping.