Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have uncovered a key reason why some people continue to experience breathing problems long after recovering from COVID-19.
Their research shows that severe infections, including COVID-19 and the flu, damage immune cells’ ability to repair the lungs.
This discovery not only sheds light on long COVID but also suggests a potential treatment that could help patients recover.
The study, led by Dr. Jie Sun and published in Science, focused on immune cells called macrophages.
These cells help repair lung tissue after an infection. However, the researchers found that severe viral infections severely damage tiny structures inside macrophages known as peroxisomes.
Peroxisomes play an important role in breaking down toxins and fats, but this study revealed that they are also crucial for reducing inflammation and promoting lung healing.
When peroxisomes inside macrophages are damaged, the lungs struggle to recover, leading to persistent inflammation and scarring. This damage was seen in both laboratory mice and human patients who had severe COVID-19.
One of the most promising findings from this study is that peroxisome damage might be reversible. The researchers tested a drug called sodium phenylbutyrate, which is already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat other medical conditions.
They found that the drug helped restore peroxisome function in macrophages, improving lung repair and reducing inflammation.
While more research is needed before this drug can be used to treat long COVID, the findings suggest that targeting peroxisomes could be a new approach to treating lung damage caused by COVID-19, the flu, and other respiratory infections.
What This Means for Long COVID and Other Lung Diseases
Long COVID has left many patients struggling with lingering breathing issues, fatigue, and inflammation. Until now, the exact cause of these problems has been unclear. This study provides a biological explanation for why some people experience long-term lung damage and identifies a possible way to treat it.
Dr. Sun and his team are now working with other researchers and doctors to further study peroxisomes and their role in lung diseases like interstitial lung disease (ILD), which causes chronic lung scarring. Their goal is to develop new treatments that target peroxisomes and help people breathe more easily.
The discovery that peroxisomes play a vital role in lung repair opens the door to new treatments for long COVID and other chronic lung diseases. If further studies confirm that sodium phenylbutyrate or similar drugs can restore peroxisome function, patients with lingering lung problems after viral infections may have a new, effective treatment option.
For now, scientists remain optimistic that focusing on these tiny but powerful structures inside immune cells could lead to breakthroughs in treating long COVID and other post-infection lung conditions.
If you care about lung health, please read studies about marijuana’s effects on lung health, and why some non-smokers get lung disease and some heavy smokers do not.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
The research findings can be found in Science.
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