A new study published in the journal Stem Cell Reports by University of Alberta researchers is shedding light on why many COVID-19 patients, even those not in hospital, are suffering from hypoxia—a potentially dangerous condition in which there is decreased oxygenation in the body’s tissues. The study also shows why the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone has been an effective treatment for those with the virus.
“Low blood-oxygen levels have been a significant problem in COVID-19 patients,” said study lead Shokrollah Elahi, associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. “Because of that, we thought one potential mechanism might be that COVID-19 impacts red blood cell production.”
In the study, Elahi and his team examined the blood of 128 patients with COVID-19. The patients included those who were critically ill and admitted to the ICU, those who had moderate symptoms and were admitted to hospital, and those who had a mild version of the disease and only spent a few hours in hospital. The researchers found that, as the disease became more severe, more immature red blood cells flooded into blood circulation, sometimes making up as much as 60 per cent of the total cells in the blood. By comparison, immature red blood cells make up less than one per cent, or none at all, in a healthy individual’s blood.
“Immature red blood cells reside in the bone marrow and we do not normally see them in blood circulation,” explained Elahi, who is also a member of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute and the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta. “This indicates that the virus is impacting the source of these cells. As a result, and to compensate for the depletion of healthy immature red blood cells, the body is producing significantly more of them in order to provide enough oxygen for the body.”
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Stem Cell Reports. Study Paper:
