The Activin/FLRG Pathway Associates with Poor COVID-19 Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients.
Mol Cell Biol
; 42(1): e0046721, 2022 01 20.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1494978
ABSTRACT
A subset of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, particularly the aged and those with comorbidities, develop the most severe form of the disease, characterized by acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS), coincident with experiencing a "cytokine storm." Here, we demonstrate that cytokines which activate the NF-κB pathway can induce activin A. Patients with elevated activin A, activin B, and FLRG at hospital admission were associated with the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, including the requirement for mechanical ventilation, and all-cause mortality. A prior study showed that activin A could decrease viral load, which indicated there might be a risk to giving COVID-19 patients an inhibitor of activin. To evaluate this, the role for activin A was examined in a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, via blockade of activin A signaling. The hamster model demonstrated that use of an anti-activin A antibody did not worsen the disease and there was no evidence for increase in lung viral load and pathology. The study indicates blockade of activin signaling may be beneficial in treating COVID-19 patients experiencing ARDS.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Activins
/
Follistatin-Related Proteins
/
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Mol Cell Biol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
MCB.00467-21
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