Metformin may Help Treat Lung Inflammation in COVID Patients

Metformin can reduce lung inflammation, COVID-19 severity and mortality, as per the study done by the researchers on mice infected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Metformin is a commonly used drug for Type-2 diabetes. It lowers glucose production in the liver, and improves the body’s response to insulin. Metformin may also possess anti-inflammatory properties, though the basis for this activity was not known.

Researchers at University of California San Diego, assessed a mouse model with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is triggered by trauma and by bacterial or viral infections. It is a frequent cause of death in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Results in the Immunity showed that metformin administered to mice prior to or after exposure to bacterial endotoxin, a surrogate for bacterial pneumonia, resulted in the inhibition of ARDS onset and lessening of its symptoms.

Metformin reduced mortality in endotoxin-challenged mice and inhibited IL-1beta production and inflammasome in the lungs.

IL-1beta and IL-6, are cytokines that cause inflammation as an early immune response. Their amounts are increased in persons infected by SARS-CoV-2, creating "cytokine storms" in which the body starts attacking its own cells and tissues. They are signs of an acute immune response gone awry.

IL-1beta production depends on inflammasome, whose presence in lung tissue is found to be highly increased in deceased COVID-19 patients, researchers said.

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New study suggests that Metformin may have therapeutic potential for treating various neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases in which there is more inflammation.

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Source-Medindia