‘No overreaction of the immune system with coronavirus’

The coronavirus does not lead to an overreaction of the immune system in patients at all, even though this was previously assumed. This is the conclusion of researchers from Nijmegen. In such a cytokine storm, the human body tries to attack an intruder, but the immune system inadvertently does more damage than the infection. That can be deadly.

Intensive care researcher Matthijs Kox of Radboudumc studied three important inflammatory proteins (cytokines). These direct the body in the fight against the infection. “In a balanced way, this is enough to clear up the infection without damage, but they can also fly out of control. Then they cause tissue damage and the defense misses its target,” explains Kox.

Kox looked at how many inflammatory proteins corona patients in intensive care had in their blood. He compared that with four other conditions. Kox: “Corona patients have far fewer cytokines in their blood than, say, people with septic shock. It is comparable to patients admitted to intensive care after an accident or resuscitation, conditions that are not known for a cytokine storm.”

Kox does not rule out that some corona patients may have an overreaction in one place in their body, such as the lungs, but it has not spread throughout the body. Such a local reaction is much more difficult to measure.

The conclusion can help determine what treatment a patient should receive. Kox: “We should not look to drugs that block specific cytokines. They are used, for example, in rheumatism, but they have never proved their worth in infectious diseases. The chance of an effect is small.” According to him, drugs such as corticosteroids can help, especially to prevent damage to the lungs.

By: ANP | Photo: ANP

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