'A silent killer' -- COVID-19 shown to trigger inflammation in the brain

There is a correlation between the inflammatory response in the brain and Parkinson's disease.

There is a potential future risk for Alzheimer's in people who have had COVID-19.

The UQ team was headed by Professor Trent Woodruff and Dr Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda from UQ's School of Biomedical Sciences.

"We studied the effect of the virus on the brain's immune cells,'microglia' which are the key cells involved in the progression of brain diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's."

The team grew human microglia in the lab, and they were exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

The cells activated the same pathway that Parkinson's and Alzheimer's can do.

Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said that when the inflammasome pathway is triggered, there is a fire in the brain that causes the death of neurons.

Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said that it's kind of a silent killer because you don't see any symptoms for a long time.

Some people who have had COVID-19 are more at risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

The researchers found that the spikeprotein of the virus was enough to start the process, and that it was even worse when there were already Parkinson's-linked genes in the brain.

If someone is already pre-disposed to Parkinson's, having COVID-19 could be like pouring more fuel on that fire.

For Alzheimer's and other dementias that have been linked to inflammasomes, the same applies.

The study found a possible treatment.

The researchers gave the drugs to Parkinson's patients.

Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said it was able to block the inflammatory pathway activated by COVID-19.

A possible treatment approach to prevent neurodegeneration in the future was suggested by the drug's reduction in inflammation.

The similarity between how COVID-19 and dementia diseases affect the brain is concerning, but it also means a possible treatment is already in existence.

There is still more research to be done, but this approach could be a new way to treat a virus.

33 co-authors were involved in the research, which was co-led by Daniel Watterson.

The study is published in a journal.

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There is a journal reference.

1. Eduardo A. Albornoz, Alberto A. Amarilla, Naphak Modhiran, Sandra Parker, Xaria X. Li, Danushka K. Wijesundara, Julio Aguado, Adriana Pliego Zamora, Christopher L. D. McMillan, Benjamin Liang, Nias Y. G. Peng, Julian D. J. Sng, Fatema Tuj Saima, Jenny N. Fung, John D. Lee, Devina Paramitha, Rhys Parry, Michael S. Avumegah, Ariel Isaacs, Martin W. Lo, Zaray Miranda-Chacon, Daniella Bradshaw, Constanza Salinas-Rebolledo, Niwanthi W. Rajapakse, Ernst J. Wolvetang, Trent P. Munro, Alejandro Rojas-Fernandez, Paul R. Young, Katryn J. Stacey, Alexander A. Khromykh, Keith J. Chappell, Daniel Watterson, Trent M. Woodruff. SARS-CoV-2 drives NLRP3 inflammasome activation in human microglia through spike protein. Molecular Psychiatry, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01831-0