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. 2021 Mar 18:12:613070.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.613070. eCollection 2021.

Efficacy and Effect of Inhaled Adenosine Treatment in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Massimo Caracciolo  1 , Pierpaolo Correale  2 , Carmelo Mangano  3 , Giuseppe Foti  3 , Carmela Falcone  4 , Sebastiano Macheda  5 , Maria Cuzzola  6 , Marco Conte  6 , Antonella Consuelo Falzea  2 , Eleonora Iuliano  2 , Antonella Morabito  7 , Michele Caraglia  8   9 , Nicola Polimeni  5 , Anna Ferrarelli  4 , Demetrio Labate  5 , Marco Tescione  5 , Laura Di Renzo  10 , Gaetano Chiricolo  11 , Lorenzo Romano  12 , Antonino De Lorenzo  10
Affiliations

Efficacy and Effect of Inhaled Adenosine Treatment in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Massimo Caracciolo et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Lack of specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 has resulted in long hospitalizations and high mortality rate. By harnessing the regulatory effects of adenosine on inflammatory mediators, we have instituted a new therapeutic treatment with inhaled adenosine in COVID-19 patients, with the aim of reducing inflammation, the onset of cytokine storm, and therefore to improve prognosis. The use of inhaled adenosine in COVID19 patients has allowed reduction of length of stay, on average 6 days. This result is strengthened by the decrease in SARS-CoV-2 positive days. In treated patients compared to control, a clear improvement in PaO2/FiO2 was observed together with a reduction in inflammation parameters, such as the decrease of CRP level. Furthermore, the efficacy of inhaled exogenous adenosine led to an improvement of the prognosis indices, NLR and PLR. The treatment seems to be safe and modulates the immune system, allowing an effective response against the viral infection progression, reducing length of stay and inflammation parameters.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; adenosine; inflammation; length of stay.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of progress from admission to discharge.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Graphs present main results; data are shown as mean and standard deviation ±1. Statistical significance was attributed as **p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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