A recent study from the University of Michigan showed a link between destructive white blood cells and a more severe disease course in patients with COVID-19.
The study is published in JCI Insight. The lead author is Yu (Ray) Zuo, M.D., a Michigan Medicine rheumatologist.
In 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.
This inflammatory storm could lead to respiratory failure and a requirement for mechanical ventilation in many patients.
In the study, the team analyzed blood samples from 50 patients with COVID-19.
They found that people with COVID-19 infection have higher blood levels of neutrophil extracellular traps, also called NETs.
They are a product of an inflammatory type of neutrophil cell death called NETosis.
The team says NETs may be relevant to many aspects of COVID-19 research, given that thrombosis and inflammation are hallmarks of severe COVID-19 infection.
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