Coronavirus May Be a Blood Vessel Disease, Which Explains Everything

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213507491

My science-oriented husband thought it was very good, and well researched.

She been on blood thinner Plavix for ten years.. if clots are a major symptom of the virus then hopefully she’s covered

I don't have any hopes for an early vaccine, so the next best thing is quick, reliable testing and treatment. I hope this helps is a breakthrough.

I love reading articles like this, that provide a new slant or an illuminating interpretation of the current research. I did not know about furin, the second protein needed to gain access to the cell, being found all through the body, and how that differs from SARS1. It's also interesting that cytokine storms are not what are causing the array of symptoms.

The article made a little jump, from infecting the endothelium of the blood vessels to infecting blood cells. Perhaps it was just an error the author made, not realizing they were distinctly different.

I posted a Web MD article in the Health group the other day that discussed the results of the recent NEJM study with surprising scientific detail.

https://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40249-020-00662-x

Methods
We compared ACE2 expression levels across 31 normal human tissues between males and females and between younger (ages ≤ 49 years) and older (ages > 49 years) persons using two-sided Student’s t test. We also investigated the correlations between ACE2 expression and immune signatures in various tissues using Pearson’s correlation test.

Results
ACE2 expression levels were the highest in the small intestine, testis, kidneys, heart, thyroid, and adipose tissue, and were the lowest in the blood, spleen, bone marrow, brain, blood vessels, and muscle. ACE2 showed medium expression levels in the lungs, colon, liver, bladder, and adrenal gland. ACE2 was not differentially expressed between males and females or between younger and older persons in any tissue. In the skin, digestive system, brain, and blood vessels, ACE2 expression levels were positively associated with immune signatures in both males and females. In the thyroid and lungs, ACE2 expression levels were positively and negatively associated with immune signatures in males and females, respectively, and in the lungs they had a positive and a negative correlation in the older and younger groups, respectively.

Conclusions
Our data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 may infect other tissues aside from the lungs and infect persons with different sexes, ages, and races equally. The different host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection may partially explain why males and females, young and old persons infected with this virus have markedly distinct disease severity. This study provides new insights into the role of ACE2 in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

which contains the statement:

Intriguingly, SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect engineered human blood vessel organoids in vitro

which I found very interesting. This line of reasoning is being pursued in many different places at the same time and with that pursuit might come a better treatment for this thing.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30937-5/fulltext

It's obvious that treating it purely like a respiratory infection is failing miserably, too many people being adequately ventilated are dying.

What likely got people interested in this line of reasoning in the first place is the systemic vasculitis a small number of children have developed post Covid.

... and it's good to see what looks like progress in determining the mechanism.

From what I've read, the binding of the virus to ACE2 receptors has been known for awhile, but it was still unexpected to spread so much throughout the body.

The study that I posted didn't explain the differences, but I still thought it was interesting how it seemed to confirm observations -- that older people are more prone to lung problems and younger people are more prone to other issues.

Interesting, but still extremely preliminary hypothesis.

It aids in formation and health of epithelial cells, which line every part of the human body, including blood vessels. If I step away from all the harm the virus is doing, I find all these interlinking factors absolutely fascinating.

But then I am a medical information nerd. If I didn't suck at math so badly, I would have majored in biology.

hated it, and went into nursing later on.

I suggest getting D tested, especially if you're a POC at high latitudes, something I don't share, and lactose intolerant, which I do. Dairy is fortified with vitamin D but not all of us can tolerate it in sufficient quantity to keep our levels up. D3 replacement if levels are low won't hurt and can certainly help.

Extra D3 if levels are normal is probably not going to do much.