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 Virus-infected cells protected from immune system by protein
A protein called CD47 that helps damaged cells avoid destruction by
the immune system may be contributing to severe cases of COVID-19,
researchers believe. Drugs in development targeting CD47 may result
in improved COVID-19 therapies, they suggested in a report published
in Current Issues in Molecular Biology. "We may have identified a
major factor associated with severe COVID-19," coauthor Martin
Michaelis of the University of Kent said in a statement. "We can now
look forward to further progress in the design of therapeutics." In
lab experiments, the researchers found that CD47 - which in effect
tells the immune system, "Do not eat me!" - is present in increased
amounts on the surfaces of cells infected with the coronavirus.
SARS-CoV-2 infection also increases levels of another protein,
SIRPalpha, that partners with CD47 to trick the immune system into
ignoring the sick cells. Previous studies have shown that CD47
levels are also elevated in conditions that put people at higher
risk for critical illness from COVID-19, such as old age, diabetes,
high blood pressure, and clogged blood vessels. In these groups,
"high CD47 levels may predispose... to severe COVID-19," the
researchers said. "Further research will be needed to define the
roles of CD47 and/or SIRPalpha in COVID-19 in more detail," they
added.
Remdesivir keeps high-risk patients out of the hospital
Gilead Sciences Inc's intravenous antiviral drug remdesivir helped
keep high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital in a randomized
trial, the company announced. The 562 patients in the study all had
conditions that increased their risk for becoming critically ill.
Half received three days of treatment with remdesivir - sold under
the brand name Veklury - while the rest received a placebo. Four
weeks later, 5.3% of patients in the placebo group had been
hospitalized or died, compared to 0.7% of those who received
remdesivir. That translated into an 87% lower risk of
hospitalization or death. Remdesivir-treated patients also had
significantly fewer medical visits, the company said.
The drug is
currently authorized for emergency use in hospitalized patients.
"These latest data show remdesivir's potential to help high-risk
patients recover before they get sicker and stay out of the hospital
altogether," study leader Dr. Robert Gottlieb of Baylor University
Medical Center said in a statement. His team plans to formally
report the data at an upcoming medical conference.
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Pandemic cuts life expectancy by most since WWII
The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the
largest amount since World War II, with the life expectancy of
American men dropping by more than two years, according to new data.
In the 29 countries studied - the United States, Chile, and 27 in
Europe - all but two showed reductions in life expectancy. There
were greater drops in life expectancy for men than women in most
countries. "The large declines in life expectancy observed in the
United States can partly be explained by the notable increase in
mortality at working ages observed in 2020," study co-leader Ridhi
Kashyap of the University of Oxford said in a statement.
"In the
United States, increases in mortality in the under 60 age group
contributed most significantly to life expectancy declines, whereas
across most of Europe increases in mortality above age 60
contributed more significantly." The largest declines were found in
U.S. men, who saw life expectancy drop by 2.2 years relative to
2019, followed by a 1.7-year decline for Lithuanian men. Women in
the United States and Spain had drops in life expectancy of 1.5
years or more. Overall, men had more than a year shaved off in 15
countries, compared to women in 11 countries. Females from 15
countries and males from 10 ended up with lower life expectancy at
birth in 2020 than in 2015, the research team reported on Sunday in
the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in
development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Victor Jack; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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