A recent drug used to treat several blood cancers may also be beneficial for some COVID-19 patients with severe forms of the disease.
Acalabrutinib, which has the trade name Calquence, is an oral treatment used since 2017 in the United States for people with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. It has been authorized in Canada since 2019 for this use.
In a study of a small group of patients infected with coronavirus in the United States, this drug was associated with a reduction in respiratory distress and the prevention of a disproportionate and dangerous response of the immune system.
The drug was given to 19 patients who were hospitalized with a severe COVID-19 infection, 11 of whom were receiving oxygen supplements and eight of whom were on an artificial respirator.
“Substantial drop”
“Within one to three days, the majority of patients in the oxygen supplement group experienced a substantial decrease in inflammation and their breathing improved,” said a statement from researchers affiliated with US federal agencies (the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases) and a military hospital.
Four out of eight patients who needed an artificial respirator and were therefore even more painful saw their condition improve, but two died in the end. These results were published last Friday in the journal Science Immunology.
Study authors believe that acalabrutinib may help some patients with COVID-19 because it targets and disables a particular protein that is found in the body’s immune system, called Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK). ).
Cytokine storms
This protein can sometimes do more harm than good, as it is believed to contribute to cytokine storms, an inflammatory reaction in the immune system so severe that it sometimes results in death and has been seen in some patients with COVID-19.
The researchers warn, however, that more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis and that acalabrutinib as an experimental treatment for COVID-19 has not been approved to date.
“This strategy should be tested in a randomized, controlled clinical trial to better understand the best and safest treatment options for patients with severe COVID-19,” they write.
– With the collaboration of the QMI Agency
Differences in the blood of coronavirus patients
Differences in the blood of COVID-19 patients can be detected, which could help predict the trajectory of patients when they are treated in hospital, researchers from Germany and the UK hope.
Experts affiliated with the Charity University Hospital Berlin and the Francis Crick Institute in London collected the blood of 31 people hospitalized for the new coronavirus, whose health ranged from mild to severe.
State-of-the-art technology has identified 27 proteins, the amount of which in plasma samples fluctuates with the severity of the disease, the researchers said in a press release.
These proteins are “biomarkers”, biological indicators that could be used to predict the progression of the disease, they argue.
Save lives
To demonstrate this, they analyzed the blood samples from 17 other COVID-19 patients and 15 healthy people.
The expression of proteins has helped to “classify patients precisely,” according to those responsible for this study.
“An early blood test would allow the treating physician to predict whether or not a patient with COVID-19 will develop severe symptoms, which could potentially save lives,” said Dr. Markus Ralser of the Charity Hospital.
This information, if it were available to doctors, would be useful in directing patients more quickly to treatments adapted to their condition.
“The sooner doctors know which patients will need intensive care, the sooner they can consider treatment, depending on the options available,” insists the biochemist.
Diagnostics
In a hospital setting, this approach would help staff refine diagnoses, since assessing a patient’s symptoms does not always provide a “clear picture of their true health,” adds Dr. Ralser.
Furthermore, the simple fact of having identified 27 proteins associated with the coronavirus, or biomarkers, could provide the scientific community with new avenues to explore in the search for a remedy, the research team said.
She now intends to continue her work in order to better understand how these biomarkers evolve during the disease.
– With the QMI Agency
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