Leading researcher of the Department of Immunology of Moscow University (Lomonosov Moscow State University) Andrei Kruglov and his German colleagues proposed a new method of treating severe COVID-19.

This was reported in the journal Nature Communications.

To combat coronavirus infection, Kruglov developed a method for detecting an antibody immune response to viral proteins and, together with colleagues from Germany, studied the cause of the severe course of COVID-19.

Recall that the main reason for the unfavorable course of this disease is the production of excess amounts of cytokines.

These peptide molecules warn the human body of the danger of infection, but they themselves are capable of causing inflammation in it and disrupting the normal functioning of the immune system.

The researchers note that the use of existing blockers of such excessive inflammation in severe COVID-19 helps only a few people.

In the course of the work, it was found that in severe covid patients there is a change, the so-called "switching" of the antibody response.

In the later stages of the disease, antibodies begin to be secreted in the patient's body in large quantities, which no longer recognize the virus.

  • Scientists have found that in severe covid patients there is a change, the so-called "switching" of the antibody immune response of the body

  • RIA News

  • © Ilya Pitalev

The reason for this unfavorable process was also established - the excessive release of a certain molecule (suppressor molecule of the cytokine TGF-b1).

“Our study offers a new way of treating severe COVID-19 by blocking TGF-b1,” said Andrey Kruglov.

As Kruglov said in an interview with RT, treatment requires drugs that block the body's production of the TGF-b1 molecule.

The scientist also said that the team is now studying the reasons for the production of this molecule in severe disease.

This could be either the virus itself or concomitant bacterial infections, the researchers believe.

According to Andrey Kruglov, there are already drugs on the market that were created to treat other diseases, but at the same time block the production of TGF-b1.

In addition, one of the pharmaceutical companies is conducting clinical trials of such a drug directly to combat the dire consequences of COVID-19.