RESEARCHERS are to investigate how Covid-19 damages blood vessels, with the goal of developing therapeutic treatments.
Queen’s University Belfast has been awarded a grant from Science Foundation Ireland and the Department for the Economy.
The project is led by Professor Alan Stitt from Queen's and Dr Roger Preston from The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
While Covid-19 is thought of as a disease of the lungs, it can also damage blood vessels elsewhere in the body, including in the brain and retina, causing serious damage leading to stroke and vision loss.
The study will look into how and why this damage is caused by examining what happens to endothelial cells - that normally line blood vessels - when they are infected with coronavirus.
It will help to inform treatment strategies to protect blood vessels from Covid-19, helping to avoid serious symptoms, particularly in the brain and retina.
Prof Stitt said the virus had a profound impact on the blood vessels of the central nervous system.
"Although the precise mechanisms of how this coronavirus causes damage in these organs remains ill-defined," he said.
"This project seeks to decipher the molecular mechanisms that underpin vascular damage in the brain and retina, with a particular focus on the clotting system in these fragile vessels.
"This research will seek to understand why the brain and retina are susceptible to vascular damage in some Covid-19 patients and identify novel therapeutic pathways that can protect against stroke and ischaemic retinopathies."
Dr Preston said blood vessel damage could cause serious, life-threatening disease.
"It is also possible that blood vessel damage caused by Covid-19, particularly in the central nervous system, contributes to the chronic symptoms experienced by many patients," he added.
"How Covid-19 causes blood vessel injury is still, however, poorly understood, slowing the development of new treatments. To address this, our research team will investigate how blood vessel cells are affected by coronavirus infection, with the goal of developing new therapeutic strategies to manage both the acute and long-term consequences of Covid-19."
