Research Unveils Paths to Stopping Cytokine Storms in COVID-19

New research from RUSH University reveals pathways to reducing organ injury caused by severe COVID-19 infection. What began as a study of how the common cold affected patients with certain types of kidney disease evolved to mitigating myocarditis, liver injury and severe kidney injury from COVID-19.

AI Predicts How Patients with Viral Infections, Including COVID-19, Will Fare

UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers discovered gene expression patterns associated with pandemic viral infections, providing a map to help define patients’ immune responses, measure disease severity, predict outcomes and test therapies — for current and future pandemics.

Penn Medicine Researcher Awarded $1 Million to Expand COVID-19 Treatment Discovery Platform

David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, an assistant professor of Translational Medicine & Human Genetics and director of the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment & Laboratory at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded $1 million by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to expand the scope of the COvid19 Registry of Off-label & New Agents (CORONA) project and build out his team to accelerate treatment identification for COVID-19.

Repurposed Arthritis Drug Did Not Significantly Improve Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

A repurposed drug used to treat arthritis did not significantly improve the outcomes of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Tocilizumab did not significantly improve clinical status or mortality rate at 28 days for participants who received it compared to a placebo.

Study: Respiratory failure in COVID-19 usually not driven by cytokine storm

A study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis showed that, contrary to expectations, most people with severe COVID-19 do not suffer from unbridled inflammation. The findings suggest that anti-inflammatory therapies may not be helpful for most COVID-19 patients.

Protein that Keeps Immune System from Freaking Out Could Form Basis for New Therapeutics

Treatment with a peptide that mimics the naturally occurring protein GIV prevents immune overreaction and supports a mechanism critical for survival in mouse models of sepsis and colitis, according to a UC San Diego study.

Drug that calms ‘cytokine storm’ associated with 45% lower risk of dying among COVID-19 patients on ventilators

Critically ill COVID-19 patients who received a single dose of a drug that calms an overreacting immune system were 45% less likely to die overall, and more likely to be out of the hospital or off a ventilator one month after treatment, compared with those who didn’t receive the drug, according to a new observational study.

Individualized Treatment for COVID-19 Patients Should Be Based on Three Disease Phases

A new review details three distinct phases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and urges medical professionals to consider an individualized treatment approach based on the disease phases and each patient’s symptoms. The review is published ahead of print in Physiological Reviews.