A ‘ferocious enzyme’ … a link between enteritis and Covid-19 has been found



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Globallookpress

American doctors have discovered that certain types of inflammatory bowel disease are linked to the same enzyme that the emerging corona virus uses to enter cells in the body.

According to the results of a study published in the journal Gastroenterology, this drug treatment used to treat the inflammatory bowel, in some cases, helps to recover from Covid-19.

The study indicated that angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) gene expression is gene expression in most tissues. It plays an important role in heart function, activates the hormone that regulates blood pressure and helps transport amino acids in the intestine.

But this enzyme becomes dangerous when a person is infected with the emerging coronavirus, because SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2 and uses it to infect cells and infect them.

Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, in collaboration with several American medical centers, conducted a study on the behavior of ACE2 in the presence of two types of intestinal infections – Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – to see how drug therapy used in intestinal infections, targeting ACE2, affects Corona virus.

These two illnesses are often accompanied by symptoms similar to those of Covid-19: inflammation of the digestive system, diarrhea, cramps and loss of appetite.

During different inflammatory bowel conditions, ACE2 behaved differently.

After reviewing the records of nearly a thousand patients at Cedars-Sinai and the University of Washington in St. Louis, scientists found that ACE2 levels in the small intestine decline during Crohn’s disease and increase in the colon during ulcerative colitis. But in both cases, when treated with anti-inflammatory drugs such as infliximab, these levels return to normal.

It turns out that the effectiveness of ACE2 depends on its specific location in the digestive tract, as well as the disease itself. “This enzyme is a double-edged sword.”

Source: Novosti



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