drugs-targeting-cell-death-could-work-for-covid-related-lung-disease-study

An unusual form of cell death could cause extreme damage to a Covid patient's lungs and in some cases result in life-threatening conditions such as inflammation and acute respiratory disorders, new research from USA’s Columbia University has revealed.

If ways to inhibit cell death are discovered doctors can find new ways of to treat Covid-19 lung disease.

 

The condition, when a cell stops functioning, is called ferroptosis. It could also result from injury, disease, or be an entirely natural process.

 

The most common form of cell death involves cells "chopping up" the molecules inside which can occur in humans when they are ill or are ageing, the researchers say.

 

Ferroptosis is an uncommon form when a cell dies as its outer fat layers collapse.

 

The team analysed human tissues, samples from hamsters and collected autopsies of patients who died of respiratory failure caused by Covid-19 infection.

 

They found that most cells were dying through the ferroptosis mechanism, forming the underlying basis for lung disease in Covid patients, PTI reported.

 

The conclusion was that drugs that targeted and prevent the ferroptosis form of cell death could help improve the treatment course for Covid-19.

 

"This finding adds crucial insight to our understanding of how Covid-19 affects the body that will significantly improve our ability to fight life-threatening cases of the disease," said Brent Stockwell, chair of the department of biological sciences at Columbia.

 

He is also the co-lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

 

Previous studies have shown that ferroptosis, while instrumental to certain normal bodily processes, can also attack and kill healthy cells in patients with

neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

 

The authors said that the ability to inhibit ferroptosis could offer doctors new ways of combating cell death that should not be occurring, as in the case of Covid-19 lung disease.

 

"We're hopeful that these important new findings could improve our ability to confront this pernicious disease, which, in too many cases, still diminishes health outcomes and results in death," said Stockwell.