Study reveals why Covid-19 virus impacts patients differently

Researchers at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo are searching how the

SARS-CoV-2 virus infects lungs

Study reveals why Covid-19 virus impacts patients differently

Researchers says differential response to the same virus suggests that each individual patient,

with their unique characteristics, heavily influences Covid-19 disease severity.

Previously scientists had determined that entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cells occurs through a

receptor on the cell surface, known as ACE2 but a new study has found that the ACE2 receptor

is at very low levels in human lung tissue.

Researchers at McMaster University (MU) and the University of Waterloo in Canada are

searching for how the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects the lungs - and they're challenging what has

become an accepted truth about the virus.

"Our finding is somewhat controversial, as it suggests that there must be other ways, other

receptors for the virus, that regulate its infection of the lungs," said study researcher Jeremy

Hirota from MU.

"We were surprised that the fundamental characterisation of the candidate receptors in human

lung tissue had not yet been done in a systematic waywith modern technologies," Hirota added.

"Finding such low levels of ACE2 in lung tissue has important implications for how we think

about this virus. ACE2 is not the full story and may be more relevant in other tissues such as

the vascular system," said study researcher Andrew Doxey from Waterloo.

To explore alternate additional infection pathways and different patient responses to infection,

the team is using nasal swabs that were collected for clinical diagnoses of Covid-19, the study,

published in the European Respiratory Journal, reported.

These samples offer the opportunity to determine which genes are expressed by patients' cells

and associate this information with the development of the patients' disease.

The ongoing study will better identify and treat patients who are at risk of developing serious

complications and provide predictive capacity for hospitals.

According to the researchers, It is clear that some individuals respond better than others to the

same SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"The differential response to the same virus suggests that each individual patient, with their

unique characteristics, heavily influences Covid-19 disease severity," said Hirota.

"We think it is the lung immune system that differs between Covid-19 patients, and by

understanding which patients' lung immune systems are helpful and which are harmful, we

may be able to help physicians proactively manage the most at risk-patients," he noted. IANS

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