美国抗疫日记4月25日:多州重启经济,新药挽救纽约重症患者

【波士顿双语网2020年4月25日讯】乔治亚州、奥克拉荷马州和阿拉斯加州从本周开始允许一些行业恢复营业。然而,目前还不清楚逐步复工究竟对重启美国环环相扣的经济系统意味着什么。下面是《纽约时报》美国各州封闭状况的示意图。本月底,有14个州的封闭禁令将到期。

《纽约时报》今天在报道中提出了一些问题,例如,一个工厂复工而其在外地的供应来源仍然关闭,父母可以复工了,可是孩子的学校仍然停课。如何在还没有抗病毒的有效治疗或疫苗情况下让年纪较长的人回去工作?政府如何帮助那些需要以较小程度复工的民间企业?

美国带头复工的这三个州当中,乔治亚和奥克拉荷马州允许发廊,健康理疗中心,理发店重新营业,阿拉斯加州则允许零售店,和其他商业开业,餐馆可以让客人入内用餐,但这三州都对准许开放的商业做出防疫要求。阿拉斯加一些市政府还是决定维持严格的防疫规定。

尽管美国这几个州允许复工的范围相当有限而且必须遵守社交距离规定,但这对美国在是否应该开放复工的激烈辩论而言是个标志性的里程碑。

白宫本月份公布了重启经济活动的阶段性开放计划,符合公共卫生标准的州可以放松限制。美国一些州已经开始发展各自的开放经济路线图。纽约州长安德鲁·科莫(Andrew Cuomo)日前表示,可能允许该州感染病例较少的一些地区比疫情最重创的纽约市和其他地区提早复工。

特朗普星期五在白宫简报会上乐观的谈到美国经济,但他要求美国民众继续遵守社交距离,并且使用口罩。就在同一天,特朗普签署了一项高达4840亿美元的救助法案使之成为法律。这项法案为了帮助受疫情打击的企业主以及为医院提供抗疫经费。过去5个星期里,美国有大约2600百万人申请失业救济,相当于每6个美国就业者中有1人失业。

remestemcel-L药物挽救重症患者

正在纽约西奈山医院进行的一项临床试验中,使用澳大利亚Mesoblast公司的remestemcel-L药物的初步结果显示,冠状病毒急性呼吸窘迫综合征患者在接受治疗后的存活率为83%,而未使用该药物的患者存活率仅为12%。在未接受治疗的患者中,只有9%的人能够脱离呼吸机。

“我们在第一例患者中看到的是,在获得细胞的四个小时内,她的许多参数开始好转,”西奈山团队的卡伦·奥斯曼(Karen Osman)博士告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的阿德里安娜·迪亚兹(Adriana Diaz)。

Mesoblast注意到,仅接受标准治疗的患者预后不佳,这与来自中国的早期数据一致,中重度呼吸窘迫综合征冠状病毒患者的死亡率超过80%。

“卓越的临床结果在这些危重患者继续强调的潜在好处remestemcel-L作为抗炎剂与高死亡率相关细胞因子释放综合征,包括急性移植物抗宿主病和COVID-19急性呼吸窘迫综合征,“ Mesoblast首席执行官博士Silviu Itescu说。

他补充说:“我们打算在急性呼吸窘迫综合征的冠状病毒患者中迅速完成随机安慰剂对照2/3期试验,以严格证实,remestemcel-L药物可提高这些危重患者的生存率。”

与此同时,Mesoblast首席医疗官Fred Grossman博士表示,该公司已经实施了美国食品和药物管理局推荐的稳健统计分析,以最大限度地提高该公司评估记忆体- l是否对冠状病毒患者有生存益处的能力。本月初,Mesoblast获得了FDA对治疗急性呼吸窘迫综合征冠状病毒患者的新药的调查许可。

攻克ARDS是抗疫成功的关键之一

新冠肺炎(COVID-19)重症患者出现的急性呼吸窘迫综合征(ARDS: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome),实为细胞因子风暴引起的细胞因子释放综合征(CRS: Cytokine Release Syndrome),感染新冠病毒(SARS-CoV-2)时,支气管和肺泡上皮细胞中的IL-6增幅器(IL-6 Amplifier)被激活,诱发细胞因子过度产生并出现急性呼吸窘迫综合征(ARDS)的模式图

在支气管和气道上皮细胞中与ACE2结合的SARS-CoV-2病毒会在TMPRSS2的作用下进入细胞内。然后激活识别病毒分子结构的细胞模式识别受体(PPRs),进而激活下游的NF-kB通路。另外,随着病毒的感染,原本与ACE2结合并被分解的血管紧张素(AngII)在血液中增加,来自血管紧张素受体1(AT1R)的信号变得过剩。

被激活的AT1R信号会激活蛋白质分解酶ADAM17,将细胞膜形态的TNFa、IL-6Ra和生长因子等炎症相关分子变成可溶性分子。可溶性TNFa和IL-6-可溶性IL-6Ra(sIL-6Ra)在包括支气管和肺泡上皮细胞及血管内皮细胞的非免疫系统细胞中会同时激活NF-kB和STAT3,从而激活过度的NF-kB活性化机构IL-6增幅器,导致这些细胞局部产生过剩的细胞因子。由此引起细胞因子释放综合征CRS,最终引发COVID-19出现的致命性急性呼吸窘迫综合征ARDS。

COVID-19患者出现的致命性急性呼吸窘迫综合征ARDS属于细胞因子释放综合征CRS,如果能治疗CRS,新型冠状病毒将变得不再可怕。




Stem Cell Therapy Shows 83% Survival of Coronavirus Patients

Doctors are hoping stem cell therapy could be a weapon in the fight against coronavirus. On Friday, regenerative medicine company Mesoblast announced a 300-person trial to determine whether stem cell treatments will work in COVID-19 patients suffering from severe lung inflammation.

One hospital in New York tried it as an experiment with 12 patients, 10 of whom were able to come off of ventilators.

“What we saw in the very first patient was that within four hours of getting the cells, a lot of her parameters started to get better,” Dr. Karen Osman, who led the team at Mount Sinai, told CBS News’ Adriana Diaz.

The doctor said she was encouraged by the results, though she was hesitant to link the stem cell procedure to her patients’ recovery.

“We don’t know” if the 10 people removed from ventilators would not have gotten had they not gotten the stem cells, she said. “And we would never dare to claim that it was related to the cells.”

She explained that only a “randomized controlled trial” would be the only way “to make a true comparison.”

Luis Naranjo, a 60-year-old COVID-19 survivor, was one of Mount Sinai’s stem cell trial success stories. He told Diaz in Spanish that he was feeling “much better.”

Naranjo’s daughter, Paola, brought him to the emergency room, fearful she would not see her father again. Like so many families struck by the coronavirus, she was not allowed inside with him.

“I forgot to tell him that I love him,” she said. “All I said was go inside, I hope you feel better.”

During his hospital stay, Naranjo was unconscious and on a ventilator for 14 days.

Doctors proposed giving him stem cells from bone marrow in hopes it would suppress the severe lung inflammation caused by the virus.

Now, Naranjo credits the doctors who treated him for his survival. Though income from his family’s jewelry business has been cut off and they found themselves falling behind on rent, Naranjo said he is focused primarily on his recovery and regaining the 25 pounds he lost at the hospital.

Although stem cell treatment, usually reserved for other diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, might end up being another step toward helping coronavirus patients recover, Dr. Osman was quick to say it would not be a “miracle treatment.”

“The miracle treatment will be a vaccine,” she said.