A group of scientists from Stanford University in the United States unveiled the first conclusions of the study that sheds the light on why COVID-19 is so dangerous to people with excess body.
Israeli edition “Details” writes that the data look frightened. According to them, Coronavirus is able to “hide” in adipose tissue: to hit fat and immune cells in it and thereby cause a cytoxic storm.
Research leaders – Dr. Tracy Maclaflin and Dr. Catherine Bliss, from the medical faculty of Stanford University, told the publication of The New York Times about how they came to their conclusions.
Together with the colleagues, they conducted experiments to find out whether the fatty tissue was removed in patients under various operations, “to infect” coronavirus. They also monitored how different cell types are reacting to COVID-19.
Scientists have found that the fat cells themselves can be infected, but they are not very inflamed. However, some immune cells in adipose tissue – macrophages – also can “infect” coronavirus, and they develop a steady inflammatory response.
The research team also received a fat fabric from the bodies of European patients who died from COVID-19 – and found coronavirus in the inner fat accumulated near various organs.
Coronavirus seems to be able to shy away from immune protection of fatty sediments, which is unable to effectively deal with them, conclude scientists. “This may well contribute to a serious illness,” said Dr. Blisse.
Coronavirus can “hide” in fat, multiply and cause a destructive response of the immune system, confirms Dr. David Cass, Professor Cardiology University of Jones Hopkins.