2\/11\/2022 Morgan Liotta News GT<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers say the virus aggravates brain cells similar to neurodegenerative conditions, flagging potential future risk, but also treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers say the virus aggravates brain cells similar to neurodegenerative conditions, flagging potential future risk, but also treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often characterised primarily as a respiratory disease, SARS-CoV-2 is also linked to neurological symptoms<\/a> as evidence<\/a> continues to emerge that infection can activate inflammation<\/a> of cells. 2\/11\/2022 Morgan Liotta News GT Researchers say the virus aggravates brain cells similar to neurodegenerative conditions, flagging potential future risk, but also treatments. Researchers say the virus aggravates brain cells […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[840,252,420],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inflammasome","category-inflammation","category-parkinsons-disease"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Now, newly published international research<\/a> led by the University of Queensland\u2019s (UQ) School of Biomedical Sciences, has found the virus activates the same inflammatory response in the brain as neurological diseases like Parkinson\u2019s.
As part of the research, microglia \u2013 the brain\u2019s immune cells that play a role in the progression of brain diseases \u2013 were grown from the blood of healthy donors and infected with SARS-CoV-2 by the UQ researchers.
The cells then became highly inflammatory, activating the inflammasome pathway, which is linked to brain diseases such as Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s.
\u2018Triggering the inflammasome pathway sparked a \u201cfire\u201d in the brain, which begins a chronic and sustained process of killing off neurons,\u2019 study co-lead Dr Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda said.
\u2018It may explain why some people who\u2019ve had COVID-19 are more vulnerable to developing neurological symptoms similar to Parkinson\u2019s disease.
\u2018It [COVID-19] is kind of a silent killer, because you don\u2019t see any outward symptoms for many years.\u2019
According to the study, the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was enough to start the \u2018angry microglia\u2019 inflammatory process, and while all cells reacted strongly to this virus across all donors, the process was further aggravated in those with existing proteins in the brain linked to Parkinson\u2019s.
Head UQ researcher Professor Trent Woodruff said for someone who may already be pre-disposed to Parkinson\u2019s, having COVID-19 \u2018could be like pouring more fuel on that fire in the brain\u2019.
\u2018The same would apply for a predisposition for Alzheimer\u2019s and other dementias that have been linked to inflammasomes,\u2019 he said.
While the authors highlight that as neuroinflammation is \u2018a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases\u2019, and their findings suggest a potential future risk for people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, a possible treatment for Parkinson\u2019s has also been flagged from the study.
A class of UQ-developed inhibitory drugs currently in clinical trials with Parkinson\u2019s patients were administered to mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 and those which had not been infected with the virus.
The results showed the drugs \u2018put out the fire\u2019 on the brain by blocking the inflammatory pathway in the mouse brain that had been activated by SARS-CoV-2.
\u2018The drug reduced inflammation in both COVID-19-infected mice and the microglia cells from humans, suggesting a possible treatment approach to prevent neurodegeneration in the future,\u2019 Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said.
Those mice had \u2018significantly reduced microglial inflammasome activation and increased survival\u2019 in comparison with untreated SARS-CoV-2-infected mice, the authors write.
\u2018These results support a possible mechanism of microglial innate immune activation by SARS-CoV-2, which could explain the increased vulnerability to developing neurological symptoms akin to Parkinson\u2019s disease in COVID-19 infected individuals, and a potential therapeutic avenue for intervention,\u2019 the paper states
Professor Woodruff told the ABC<\/a> these results may also shed light on some of the symptoms of \u2018brain fog\u2019<\/a> occurring in people post-COVID infection<\/a>.
He added that of the many other drugs designed to block the inflammasome pathway currently in development across the globe, his team hopes that \u2018one may make it all the way through to clinical application\u2019.
According to the researchers, their findings complement the \u2018knowledge-gap in molecular mechanisms\u2019 by which SARS-CoV-2 may activate microglia and lead to neurological symptoms, supporting the potential role for COVID-19 in triggering brain diseases such as Parkinson\u2019s.
While the links between how COVID-19 and diseases like Parkinson\u2019s impact the brain are concerning, Professor Woodruff believes there is \u2018no cause for alarm\u2019 yet, and that the situation should continue to be monitored.
\u2018Further research is needed, but this is potentially a new approach to treating a virus that could otherwise have untold long-term health ramifications,\u2019 he said.
\u2018Our research is really just the first piece of the puzzle.
\u2018It\u2019s important to start looking clinically in some of these individuals that may be susceptible to see if what we\u2019re discovering in the lab may also be true out in the population.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"