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Pro-inflammatory response and mortality appeared to be reduced in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with gastrointestinal manifestations, suggesting that the GI tract may mitigate SARS-CoV-2 inflammation, researchers reported.
In a three-cohort international study, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in small-intestine epithelial cells by immunofluorescence staining or electron microscopy in 14 of 16 patients in the final analysis of biopsied patients, according to Saurabh Mehandru, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues.
High-dimensional analyses of GI tissues in COVID-19 patients revealed low levels of inflammation, including down-regulation of key inflammatory genes such as IFNG, CXCL8, CXCL2, and IL1B, as well as reduced frequencies of pro-inflammatory dendritic cells compared with controls. Infected intestinal cells were predominantly goblet cells, they stated in