International team announces possible new treatment for Covid-19

A team of researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles has found that skin cells contain a substance that could stop SARS-CoV-2 infection. According to this study, published in the scientific journal Biomaterials and Biosystems, the new treatment could prevent the virus from replicating and, at the same time, could protect and repair damaged tissue.
The treatment was developed using skin cells, called dermal fibroblasts, engineered to create therapeutic extracellular vesicles, which are nanoparticles that facilitate communication between cells and tissues. The research team named “Astex” these extracellular vesicles capable of repairing damaged tissue.
It should be noted that this study also had the support of scientists from the University of California, the researchers tested, on laboratory mice, what would happen if “Astex” was applied to human lung epithelial cells. The result of the experiment showed that “Astex” was able to prevent the inflammatory process, which can lead to cell death.
Also according to Eduardo Marbán, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute and professor at Cedars-Sinai: “This potential anti-Covid-19 biological therapy is new in that it has two facets: it protects infected cells, which remdesivir does not does not, and also inhibits viral replication”. A giant step in the fight against Covid-19.