An enzyme known as PI3K gamma may be able to reduce organ and tissue damage in patients who have COVID-19 or drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, researchers at the University of California San Diego found.
Cancer researchers have previously used the P13K gamma molecule to kill inflammatory cells in tumor tissue and protect the healthy cells and tissue from further damage. Now, they've studied the approach on lung tissue infected with SARS-CoV-2 and discovered similar, beneficial results, which were published July 3 in Science Translational Medicine.
The molecule was identified by researchers 12 years ago and in the new research, they discovered the same molecule can be suppressed with a repurposed cancer drug.
PI3K gamma promotes the movement of myeloid cells into the infected tissues to fight back at the source. Specifically for COVID-19, researchers found that the new approach "targets the host, keeping the immune system from overreacting or fibers building up in the lungs," according to the news release.
"We sequenced COVID-19 patient lung tissue and showed that when patients have COVID-19, a lot of their lung cells are killed and there's a huge increase in myeloid cells," Judith Varner, PhD, lead author of the study and head of the Solid Tumor Therapeutics program at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, said in the release. "We also found the same thing in infected mice," said Dr. Varner. "When we treated with the drug, we showed that eganelisib prevents entry of myeloid cells into tissue, so they can’t do all that damage."
The results were the same for mice infected with MRSA.
Additional studies are needed to understand if the treatment can potentially be used to reverse damage to cells, according to the release.