SAN DIEGO- When people think of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, they often think of it as a respiratory infection. But the symptoms can be really general and new research at UC San Diego School of Medicine shows.
“What we have learned throughout the year since COVID-19 arrived, although the target site of infection is the lungs, but the consequences we see in humans are related to the heart, brain and many other things.” Tariq Rana, professor and head of the Division of Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Moores Cancer Center.
So, this led the researchers to two questions: Does the virus infect every organ in the body in the same way? And the problems we see with the virus are due to the way our body reacts to infection?
UCSD researchers use stem cells to create organ-like 3D structures that represent the lungs and brain for analysis.
The representation of the virus in both the brain and the lungs was significantly more common in the lungs.
UC San Diego
“When a virus infects cells, there are molecules on the surface, they are like door handles and it turns out that there are 10 times more clamps in the lungs than in the brain. Which makes sense because there are more infections in the lungs than in the brain, ”Rana explained.
In turn, this will affect how the virus is treated when it attacks various organs.
Researchers are also looking at how the virus affects people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, hopefully to provide more specific treatment options.
UC San Diego researchers are also focusing their efforts on creating new vaccines right now to test and, ultimately, to help fight the deadly disease.
Click here to see the full study.