Anticoagulant has beneficial side-effects for COVID-19 patients, study
finds

Date:
November 12, 2021
Source:
Medical University of Vienna
Summary:
Clotting problems and resulting complications are common in
COVID-19 patients. Researchers have now shown that a member of the
anticoagulant group of drugs not only has a beneficial effect on
survival of COVID-19 patients, but also influences the duration
of active infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Clotting problems and resulting complications are common in COVID-19
patients.

Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna have now shown that
a member of the anticoagulant group of drugs not only has a beneficial
effect on survival of COVID-19 patients, but also influences the duration
of active infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The results were
recently published in the journal Cardiovascular Research.


========================================================================== Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a multifaceted infectious
disease. While, at the start of the global pandemic, it was assumed
that COVID-19 was primarily a disease of the lungs, it is now known
that several functional systems in the human body are affected following infection with the pathogen SARS-CoV-2. One of these functional systems
is blood clotting. COVID-19 patients have an increased risk of thromboses
and embolisms, such as strokes, pulmonary or myocardial infarctions,
and even deep vein thromboses. The use of drugs that inhibit blood
clotting has been part of the treatment guidelines for COVID-19 since
July 2020. "These complications during hospitalisation have a direct
impact on the well-being of patients and increased the risk of dying
from COVID-19," reports David Pereyra from MedUni Vienna's Department of General Surgery, who is first author of the publication. The underlying coagulopathy is still not fully understood.

COVID-19 triggers unique clotting problems "The coagulopathy observed in COVID-19 patients is novel and differs in many respects from previously
known coagulation problems," says Alice Assinger, group leader at the
Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research at the Medical
University of Vienna and last author of the publication, "COVID-19-
associated coagulopathy displays characteristics that, although partially comparable with other coagulation diseases, cannot be fully explained
by them." Alice Assinger's group therefore started to look for an
explanation for this sub-condition of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020,
in an early phase of the pandemic.

In a multi-centre analysis of COVID-19 patients in Vienna, Linz and
Innsbruck, the group observed that COVID-19-associated coagulopathy occurs almost exclusively in patients requiring intensive care or in patients
who die as a result of COVID-19. Although anticoagulant drugs improve
the survival of COVID- 19 patients, they show no effect on immunological processes related to blood coagulation (immunothrombosis).

Low-molecular-weight heparin curtails duration of infection The analyses showed, however, that the period of active SARS-CoV-2 infection is
curtailed in patients treated with low-molecular-weight heparin, the
most commonly used anticoagulant. "In patients who receive this drug,
infection time is an average of four days shorter than in patients who
are not treated with low-molecular-weight heparin. We were surprised
to see that low-molecular- weight heparin may have a direct effect on coronavirus and its infectivity," said David Pereyra. Experimental data
show that heparin can inhibit the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to bind to cells, thereby preventing them from being infected.

These observations were made in the context of a close collaboration
between the three hospitals involved -- the Favoriten Hospital in
Vienna, the Innsbruck Regional Hospital Innsbruck and the Johannes
Kepler University Hospital in Linz -- as well as through the active
exchange between basic researchers and clinicians," says Alice Assinger, underscoring the relevance of good cooperation during the COVID-19
pandemic for a better understanding of the disease and its treatment.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Medical_University_of_Vienna. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. David Pereyra, Stefan Heber, Waltraud C Schrottmaier, Jonas
Santol, Anita
Pirabe, Anna Schmuckenschlager, Kerstin Kammerer, Daphni Ammon,
Thomas Sorz, Fabian Fritsch, Hubert Hayden, Erich Pawelka, Philipp
Kru"ger, Benedikt Rumpf, Marianna T Traugott, Pia Glaser, Christa
Firbas, Christian Scho"rgenhofer, Tamara Seitz, Mario Karolyi,
Ingrid Pabinger, Christine Brostjan, Patrick Starlinger, Gu"nter
Weiss, Rosa Bellmann- Weiler, Helmut J F Salzer, Bernd Jilma,
Alexander Zoufaly, Alice Assinger. Low-molecular-weight heparin
use in coronavirus disease 2019 is associated with curtailed
viral persistence: a retrospective multicentre observational
study. Cardiovascular Research, 2021; DOI: 10.1093/cvr/ cvab308 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211112122548.htm

--- up 1 day, 2 hours, 55 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)