Pulmonary radiation holds promise for COVID-19 pneumonia; smoking increases risks

(Reuters) – The following is a brief summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Lung radiation may speed recovery from COVID-19 pneumonia

A small study suggests that a low dose of radiation to the lungs of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia may help them recover more quickly. Doctors at Emory University in Atlanta treated 10 of these patients with lung radiation and compared them to 10 patients of similar ages who received usual care, without radiation. With radiation, the average time for significant improvement was three days, compared to 12 days in the control group.

Other potential effects included a shorter average time to hospital discharge (12 days with radiation versus 20 days without it) and a lower risk of mechanical ventilation (10% with radiation versus 40% without it). But those two differences were too small to rule out the possibility that they were due to chance, the researchers found.

The radiation group was “a little older, a little sicker and his lungs were a little more damaged … but despite that we saw a strong sign of efficacy,” Emory’s Dr. Mohammad Khan told Reuters.

Khan noted that in the radiation group, COVID-19 drugs were withheld before and after treatment, so the results reflect the effect of radiation alone.

“Radiation therapy,” said Khan, “can reduce inflammation in the lungs of COVID-19 patients and reduce the cytokines that cause inflammation.” Cytokines are proteins produced by the immune system. The results of the first five patients have been accepted for publication by the journal Cancer.

The results of the 10 were published the Tuesday before the peer review on the medRxiv website. The researchers have launched a randomized controlled trial of the treatment and hope to eventually include multiple centers. (bit.ly/2DDaAdI)

Smoking can increase serious risk of COVID-19 among young adults

According to survey data, about a third of young adults in the US appear to be at high risk for severe COVID-19, and smoking is their strongest risk factor.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 8,000 participants, ages 18 to 25, in the Nationally Representative National Health Interview Survey from 2016 to 2018. They also analyzed the medical conditions of the participants identified by the Centers for Control and US Disease Prevention any age “medically vulnerable” to serious coronavirus illness.

These include diabetes, heart disease, immune problems, smoking, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, and respiratory disease. Overall, 32% of surveyed young adults were viewed as medically vulnerable to severe COVID-19. However, among young non-smoking adults, only 16% were viewed as medically vulnerable.

“Efforts to reduce cigarette and e-cigarette consumption among young adults would likely reduce their medical vulnerability to serious illness,” the researchers said Monday in the study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. “Our analysis suggests that the risk of smoking and e-cigarette use is higher among young adults who are male, white, and low-income and who are totally or partially uninsured.” (bit.ly/32mZ9S2)

Coronavirus can rarely pass through the placenta

It is not clear whether the coronavirus can pass through the mother’s uterus to the fetus.

On Tuesday, doctors in France reported a very rare case that suggests transmission through the placenta may be possible. In the journal Nature Communications, they described a baby born prematurely to a mother with COVID-19. They found the virus in placental tissue, as well as in the blood of the mother and baby, suggesting that transplacental transmission of the new coronavirus may be possible, although further study is needed. Both mother and baby recovered well.

Marian Knight, a professor of maternal and child population health at Oxford University, said the case should not be a major concern for pregnant women. Among the thousands of babies born to mothers infected with the virus, only about 1% to 2% were reported to also have a positive test, Knight said. (reut.rs/3h3xWry; go.nature.com/2WmjWRz)

Promising results from early testing of new vaccine

Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), the experimental vaccine for COVID-19, mRNA-1273, was safe and elicited immune responses in the 45 healthy volunteers in a phase 1 study, the first in humans, researchers reported Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The volunteers who received two doses of the vaccine had levels of antibodies against the virus that exceeded the average levels observed in patients recovered with COVID-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose researchers developed the Moderna vaccine candidate, called the results good news. Fauci noted that the study found no serious adverse events and that the vaccine produced “reasonably high” levels of neutralizing or virus-killing antibodies.

“If your vaccine can induce a response comparable to natural infection, that’s a winner,” Fauci told Reuters. “So we are very satisfied with the results.” A phase 2 trial testing the vaccine’s effectiveness in a larger group began in May.

A much larger Phase 3 trial will begin this month to confirm efficacy and identify rare side effects, which will eventually include 30,000 participants. Separately, data from early-stage human trials on a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and the University of Oxford will be published on July 20, the Lancet medical journal said on Wednesday. (reut.rs/3hemOs3; bit.ly/30aFwtD)

Open here in an external browser for a Reuters chart of vaccines and treatments in development.