HealthDay Reports: Nanotechnology Might Help Fight Deadly 'Cytokine Storm' of COVID-19
A new mice study looked at how nanotechnology might help humans fight off the severe "cytokine storm" that occurs in severe cases of COVID-19.
Nanotechnology Might Help Fight Deadly 'Cytokine Storm' of COVID-19
TUESDAY, April 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- For many COVID-19 patients battling for their lives in the ICU, a runaway immune system response -- known as a "cytokine storm" -- is their primary foe.
Doctors have few tools to help tame this hyperinflammatory condition, but early research is suggesting that nanotechnology might safely deliver drugs to affected tissues, quieting the storm.
It's so far only been tested in mice, but researchers in Brazil and France said the approach could be "a new tool in the fight against the complex and multi-factorial phenomenon of uncontrolled inflammation." They reported their findings online April 27 in the journal Science Advances.
It's not clear why some young, robust patients experience life-threatening illness from COVID-19, while others have either mild or no symptoms.
But when severe illness does strike, it's often in the form of an out-of-control immune system response.