Long COVID and pulmonary fibrosis better understood thanks to innovative techniques (IMAGE)
Caption
With the help of synchrotron-based hierarchical phase-contrast tomography (HiP-CT), a mosaic-like hypoxic undersupply of the smallest functional unit of the in severe COVID-19 lungs, the lung lobules, could be shown for the first time. This hypoxia and vascular damage caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus leads to excessive formation of new blood vessels, so-called intussusceptive angiogenesis, which leads to scarring and fibrosis of the lung tissue in a very short time via inflammatory processes. In order to identify potential therapeutic targets or progression biomarkers, blood serum and biopsy tissue from patients with different COVID-19 progressions, pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and acute lung injury (ARDS) were analysed and validated in a broad screening approach using proteomics and metabolomics. Three matricellular biomarkers and one macrophage-derived biomarker were identified as predictive blood-biomarkers that predict the progression of the scarring process. Image source: Paul Tafforeau, ESRF; Claire Walsh, UCL; Maximilian Ackermann, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
Credit
Paul Tafforeau, ESRF; Claire Walsh, UCL; Maximilian Ackermann, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
Usage Restrictions
Mention of the credits
License
Original content