Experimental hormone (thyroid - T3) therapy may speed recovery for COVID patients
Last edited Mon Nov 2, 2020, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)
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Essentia’s (health center) Dr. Tim Rich and the University of Minnesota’s Dr. David Ingbar had studied for years whether a common thyroid hormone could be repurposed for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), an often fatal type of lung failure. The doctors received federal approval late last year to test the therapy, so when COVID-19 caused a sudden surge in ARDS, they were ready for their first patient — Smoley’s husband, Bob Schlicht. The turnaround that followed was so remarkable that Rich and Ingbar have advanced their research — unique for a regional medical provider in a world of urban and academic COVID-19 studies — to a phase 2 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study. The doctors have optimism about the impact their treatment could have amid the pandemic.
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Rich and Ingbar made a key discovery during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009, when families of those who died from influenza-related ARDS permitted autopsies. Rich found the victims’ lungs lacked T3, a thyroid hormone that would normally be detectable. Ingbar said T3 reduces inflammation and coaxes epithelial cells in the lungs to absorb fluids — which is vital for patients with ARDS. “A part of this acute lung injury with ARDS is the lungs get leaky, and they tend to fill with fluid,” Ingbar said. “That makes it really hard to get oxygen in or carbon dioxide out.”
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(Patient) White spent more than a month in the Duluth hospital but has been back home since spring and is working to gain enough strength to return to work. Chest X-rays for months have shown healthy lungs. “This is really a much faster recovery than we see with typical ARDS,” said Ingbar, noting that many survivors have lung scarring that can cause breathing problems for years and the need for supplemental oxygen.
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While the timing of recovery and abrupt reversal of symptoms suggest that T3 worked, doctors can’t rule out that the men recovered due to other medical care. The trial was paused for months following the treatment of Schlicht and White for a safety review, but Rich and Ingbar recently received the go-ahead to give the therapy to more patients in Duluth and plan to expand to three Twin Cities-area hospitals.
ARDS stems from a variety of causes, including heat, physical trauma or inhaled substances. Research showed that any such lung injury produces more of an enzyme that breaks down T3. “There’s a real local destruction of the hormone that explains why its concentration is so low,” Ingbar said. Doctors administer the hormone directly to a patient’s lungs through a breathing tube. That is a novel part of this study, as sick people have received thyroid hormones for years, but never straight into their lungs in this manner.
More..
https://www.startribune.com/hormone-boost-could-be-covid-19-key/572944532/
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Ty for sharing! 
