New research finds a connection between destructive white blood cells and a more severe disease course in patients with COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\"We found that patients with COVID-19 infection have higher blood levels of neutrophil extracellular traps, also called NETs, which are a product of an inflammatory type of neutrophil cell death called NETosis,\" says first author Yu (Ray) Zuo, M.D., a Michigan Medicine rheumatologist.<\/p>\n
Zuo worked on the study with Yogen Kanthi, M.D., a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist at the Michigan Medicine Frankel Cardiovascular Center, and Jason Knight, M.D., Ph.D., a rheumatologist at Michigan Medicine, who study inflammation and neutrophils. The researchers analyzed blood samples from 50 patients with COVID-19 for this publication.<\/p>\n
Zuo and colleagues say, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to better understand what causes the inflammatory storm and blood clots triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection--a storm that leads to respiratory failure and a requirement for mechanical ventilation in many patients. They believe NETs may be relevant to many aspects of COVID-19 research, given that thrombosis and inflammation are hallmarks of severe infection.<\/p>\n
This is the first publication to come out of the Frankel CVC's CV Impact Research Ignitor Grant program, which was created to address COVID-19 from both basic science and clinical perspectives.<\/p>\n
Reference:Zuo, Y., Yalavarthi, S., Shi, H., Gockman, K., Zuo, M., Madison, J. A., . . . Knight, J. S. (2020). Neutrophil extracellular traps in COVID-19. JCI Insight. doi:10.1172\/jci.insight.138999<\/p>\n
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Higher Levels of NETs in Blood Associated With More Severe COVID-19 - Technology Networks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New research finds a connection between destructive white blood cells and a more severe disease course in patients with COVID-19. \"We found that patients with COVID-19 infection have higher blood levels of neutrophil extracellular traps, also called NETs, which are a product of an inflammatory type of neutrophil cell death called NETosis,\" says first author Yu (Ray) Zuo, M.D., a Michigan Medicine rheumatologist. Continue reading