NOS | Jeroen van Eijndhoven
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:50
A new important step has been taken in research into lung covid. Immunologist René Lutter of Amsterdam UMC discovered that an enzyme is the cause of fatigue in patients with lung covid. An experimental cancer drug could halt the production of this enzyme.
Lutter and his team have been researching the blood of lung covid patients and the organs of deceased patients with lung covid for two years now. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 people in the Netherlands who still have serious complaints years after their covid infection.
“We still have to test it all, let’s be careful and don’t give people false hope,” Lutter said immediately NOS Radio 1 Journal. Still, his findings shed a new look at lung covid.
IDO-2-enzyme
The immunologist accidentally came across the enzyme IDO-2. He specializes in asthma. In patients with this lung disease, the IDO-1 enzyme can often be seen in the blood. He expected this to also be the case with lung covid patients, but came across a brother. “To my surprise, I actually didn’t see much of IDO-1. I only saw IDO-2.”
The research team found out that the body produces the IDO-2 enzyme to fight a covid infection. This enzyme disappears in most people some time after a covid infection. In patients with lung covid, the body continues to produce the IDO-2 enzyme, which keeps them overtired. The brake is off and that causes body cells to be damaged or die.
Bayer is very interested, but because the study has not yet been completed, they are hesitant to release the drug
René Lutter, immunologist Amsterdam UMC
Lutter therefore found “an insane amount” of the enzyme in the organs of deceased covid patients. IDO-2 has also been found in the blood of all fifteen lung covid patients currently being examined by the team.
Lutter discovered that a substance being tested on cancer patients may have an inhibitory effect on the production of the IDO-2 enzyme. He tested a small amount of the substance on blood samples from six patients. With each sample, the enzyme in the cells decreases very strongly, resulting in less damage to the cells.
Not yet tested on humans
The drug has not yet been actually tested on patients. It is therefore not yet clear whether it has the same effect in practice as in the laboratory. The study design is ready for this and the subsidy application has been submitted. Lutter wants to try four different doses of the drug in 36 patients.
Two major manufacturers produce the drug: Brystol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Bayer. “The study of the drug is in phase 1. That is a kind of safety study,” Lutter explains.
That immediately creates a major hitch in the cable. Because the effect of the drug is still being researched, the manufacturers are reluctant to provide the drug. “Bayer is very interested. But because the study has not yet been completed, they are unsure whether they want to release the drug. Unfortunately, BMS does not want to respond,” says Lutter.
It is therefore not yet clear whether the research team can obtain the drug. Lutter hopes to use the drug as soon as possible to see if it works.
‘Not acceptable’
Michael Rutgers, chairman of patient organization PostCovid NL and director of the Lung Fund, thinks it is “not acceptable” that the drug is not yet available.
“These results show how important it is to continue research into lung covid,” Rutgers said. “It gives hope. This group of patients has had no hope for a long time. They will become greenhouse plants. And there are tens of thousands of them.”
These results show how important it is to continue research into lung covid
Michael Rutgers, chairman PostCovid NL
Rutgers wants to assist the researchers as much as possible. “We’re going to see if we can help find money for the research.” He also wants to mediate in the consultations with the pharmaceutical companies.
The ultimate hope is that the drug can reduce the complaints of patients with lung covid. “We don’t know if it works. But I do think it’s a way to keep things from getting more serious,” says Lutter. He hopes for full recovery in patients: “But we still have to be careful to say that.”
2023-08-10 16:50:04
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