Scientists at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) are attempting to modify an experimental treatment to mitigate lung damage in Cystic Fibrosis to do the same for COVID-19 patients, the Defense Department said in a press release on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) Scientists at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) are attempting to modify an experimental treatment to mitigate lung damage in Cystic Fibrosis to do the same for COVID-19 patients, the Defense Department said in a press release on Tuesday.
While researching treatments of Cystic Fibrosis, scientists identified certain miniature RNA molecules that have anti-inflammatory properties that reduce lung destruction characteristic of the disease, the release said.
''Our goal is to suppress inflammatory proteins, like Interleukins (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1-), which play a major role in the damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 [novel coronavirus],'' USU Associate Professor Roopa Biswas said in the release.
Biswas explained that USU scientists, in collaboration with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, are focusing on how short segments of non-coding RNAs can interfere with protein formation, which in turn could reduce inflammation and ultimately suppress the novel coronavirus. Some of these RNAs are designed to directly target the virus itself.
After recovering from severe cases of COVID-19, many victims suffer from long-term lung damage, the release noted.
In a separate project, USU researchers are working with scientists at the regenerative medicine biotech company NellOne Therapeutics to study a protein previously shown to restore injured bone, cartilage, skeletal and heart muscle tissues that were damaged by over-inflammation from viral infections, the release said.
Biswas' team at USU is now testing the NellOne treatment on coronavirus infected mice, the release added.
