Since my Harvard lab closed yesterday, I've been reading and interpreting this week's published papers on #COVID19. What follows is a thread of information, my interpretation, links to sources & predictions. Let's start with what you need to know... #coronavirus #COVIDー19
Treatments that seem to work are chloroquine (a cheap malarial drug), Gilliad's remdesivir with interferon-beta (in clinical trials from COV-19), plasma from recovered patients, and a steroid (methylprednisilone). Doctors in US are now using remdesivir off-label...
SARS-CoV2 attacks pneumocytes in lung, intestine, heart & cells lining blood vessels. In lung, CoV2 prevents cells from making biological detergents to keep lung passages open. Acute respiratory distress follows. O2 levels fall..but there's may be a dangerous underlying process..
..new work out of China yesterday says COVID-19 might also involve abnormal blood production. CoV genes 1 & 8 are predicted to interfere with heme, the red compound in blood, by kicking out the iron. Would explain why chloroquine seems effective as a treatment #CoronaVirusUpdate
Chloroquine is predicted to prevent orf1ab, ORF3a and ORF10 from attacking heme (red in red blood cells) and inhibit the binding of ORF8 to heme. Although 99% of the virus is seemingly stable, what's disturbing is ORF 1 and 8 are mutating the fastest...
..Positions nt28144 in ORF 8 and nt8782 in ORF1 are evolving. Samples out of China show they'd mutated 30.53% (29/95) and 29.47% (28/95), respectively. I'm currently figuring out why these are the ones mutating and how that would change the situation...
It may explain why diabetics and elderly are more susceptible. Blood sugar levels usually increase as we get older, increasing the amount of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (I've tweeted about this before). The authors suggest these people would be more susceptible to because...
...the virus could more easily disrupt the heme in red blood cells. If so, the virus is very smart: it destroys the lung so patients can't take up oxygen AND reduces the body's ability to carry oxygen. (For this & other reasons, you should eat healthily the next 2 years)...
These ideas are testable. COVID-19 should correlate with HbA1c levels (seems true). Patients should have abnormalities in heme/porphyrin & they might have higher levels of free iron in tissues & blood. I will update with more info as it comes in. Stay safe. Below are links...
Blood, HbA1c, and chloroquine
tinyurl.com/w28et45
CoV2 mutations
tinyurl.com/secncmf
Symptoms
tinyurl.com/ubncbgn
Susceptibility/Risk
tinyurl.com/vexo5vl
Fatality
tinyurl.com/sb8qpza
Therapies
tinyurl.com/vrm7f5j
Remdesivir
tinyurl.com/teb8neb
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tinyurl.com/w28et45
CoV2 mutations
tinyurl.com/secncmf
Symptoms
tinyurl.com/ubncbgn
Susceptibility/Risk
tinyurl.com/vexo5vl
Fatality
tinyurl.com/sb8qpza
Therapies
tinyurl.com/vrm7f5j
Remdesivir
tinyurl.com/teb8neb
☮️
Update, unverified source: Chinese physicians, some of the first to treat patients spoke to a Town Hall Meeting at El Camino Hospital & Grand Rounds at @StanfordMed. Chloroquine does not seem to work (though many say it does) and steroids are a definite no. Pls help us verify.
