Proven immunotherapy approach might be possible in COVID-19; High COVID-19 mortality seen in assisted-living facilities

A proven approach to severe virus infections, known as cytotoxic T cell therapy, may be applicable to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) despite a potential hurdle, researchers said.

The approach involves treating critically ill patients with infusions of key immune cells known as T-lymphocytes obtained from people who successfully fought off the same virus. These donor T cells have learned to recognize and target the invading virus.

But steroids, which are being increasingly used to treat COVID-19 patients, are toxic to lymphocytes, likely canceling out any beneficial effects of the immunotherapy.

In a new report posted on bioRxiv ahead of peer review, researchers describe a possible workaround.

They say they have figured out a way to take donor T cells that target the novel coronavirus and make them resistant to the deadly effects of steroids.

"We are currently working on ... developing clinical trials to determine safety and efficacy," coauthor Dr. Katy Rezvani of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center told Reuters.

High COVID-19 mortality seen in assisted-living facilities

Data compiled from more than 4,600 assisted living facilities in seven US states through the end of May showed a four-fold higher COVID-19 fatality rate than in the nearby communities, researchers reported on Monday in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.

In North Carolina and Connecticut, for example, the proportions of COVID-19 cases that were fatal across the state were 3.3% and 9.3%, respectively.

In assisted living facilities in those states, the fatality rate climbed to 13% and 31.6%.

Unlike nursing homes, assisted living communities are not subject to federal regulation and are not required to collect and report data on COVID-19, coauthor Helena Temkin-Greener of the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry said in a news release.

In this study, and in a separate study of nursing homes her team published on Monday in the same journal, COVID-19 cases were more common in facilities with more minority residents and more residents with dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and obesity.

"Assisted living communities and their residents urgently need local, state, and the federal governments to pay at least the same level of attention as that given to nursing homes," Temkin-Greener and colleagues conclude. -- Reuters