Dexamethasone is one of the most important drugs in the treatment of severe COVID-19, but patients respond very differently to the therapy. Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now discovered how the cortisone compound influences the impaired inflammatory response and which patients benefit from it. Their method uses so-called single-cell analyses and raises hopes for a precise prediction tool for other therapies and diseases as well.
The findings have been published in the scientific journal Cell . It has long been puzzling why certain drugs work so well for some people and fail to work at all for others. Researchers at DZNE and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now tested a method that allows to uncover the underlying molecular mechanisms more precisely than before.
For their study, they investigated the molecular effect of dexamethasone in patients with severe COVID-19, who responded differently to treatment with the drug. Using so-called single-cell analyses, they discovered that a certain type of immune cells is responsible for the completely contrary reactions. They also identified a way of predicting early in the treatment whether it will work for the respective person.
The tested approach could also be useful in the therapy of other diseases. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it became apparent that the immune system of people with a severe course of the dis.
