Page 24 - rp-may-2020

RESEARCH NEWS 22
RET AIL PHARMA C Y • MA Y 2020
COVID-19 AND THE IMMUNOCOMPROMISED: WORLD FIRST STUDY
A world-first Australian study
will observe and evaluate the
impact of COVID-19 on people
with compromised immune
systems, aiming to uncover
potentially life-saving information
about how alterations in the immune
system affect COVID-19 infection.
Coordinated by the Kirby Institute
at UNSW Sydney, the study is a
collaboration medical research
organisations, including St Vincent’s
Hospital Sydney, the Garvan Institute,
and Institute of Clinical Pathology
and Medical Research (ICPMR) at
Westmead Hospital in western Sydney.
Associate Professor Mark
Polizzotto from the Kirby Institute
says not enough is known about
how COVID-19 affects people with
compromised immune systems.
“While all Australians are rightfully
apprehensive about contracting
COVID-19, it’s possible that people
with compromised immune systems
are at increased risk of serious
consequences of infection,” he said.
This study enrols people who
have tested positive for COVID-19
and are undergoing cancer
treatment, have had a solid organ
transplant or stem cell transplant,
are living with HIV, have an inherited
immunodeficiency, or are taking
immunomodulatory therapies.
Phil Pryke, who has multiple
myeloma, a blood cancer that
will ultimately require a stem cell
transplant, is described as being
extraordinarily positive about his health
but has had to make big changes to
his lifestyle to minimise the risk of
contracting COVID-19.
“My partner and I only leave the
house twice a week for my medical
appointments, and I haven’t seen my
children or grandchildren since January,”
he said. “We’re being very careful and
maximising protection wherever we can.
“I manage the need for isolation by
having very open conversations with
my medical teams, my family, my friends
and my colleagues about where my
health is at. This has opened up an
incredible network of support for me.
“But with COVID-19, there are so many
unknowns, especially for people like me
with compromised immune systems.
That’s why this research is so important.
Clinicians need to know how to manage
COVID-19 in people like me if I were
to contract it.”
Dr Barbara Withers, a haematologist
at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney,
is Mr Pryke’s doctor. She will lead
the analysis of COVID-19 in people
with cancer.
“These population groups are
typically more vulnerable to influenza
and common coronaviruses, as well
as to bacterial and opportunistic
infection,” she said. “We also know
older people are at higher risk of
severe COVID-19 infection.
“Given many of our patients with
cancer are over the age of 65,
this may increase their risk on two fronts.
This study may also provide information
about whether certain cancer therapies
are associated with higher risks of
severe infection.”
Controlled trials for
promising therapies
Dr Sarah Sasson, an immunologist
at the Kirby Institute, NSW Health
Pathology and ICPMR, is leading
the analysis of immune therapies.
She says the study may also offer
the possibility of accelerating the
identification of promising therapies
for COVID-19, which can then be
prioritised for study in controlled
clinical trials.
“For example,” she said, “some of the
most feared complications of COVID-19
appear to arise from an overactive
immune response attacking the lungs
late in infection. It’s possible that
immune therapies could dampen this
overactive response, with potentially
beneficial outcomes.
“If through this study we identify
a treatment that appears to be
protective against severe COVID-19,
we can rapidly move it into the
controlled trials, the gold standard to
test whether a new treatment works.”
The National Centre for Education
and Training on Addiction has warned
of increased health risks if people
resort to using more drugs and
alcohol to cope with stress, anxiety
and boredom during self-isolation.
NCETA Director Professor
Ann Roche says binge drinking
will make physical isolation worse
because it can increase stress
and anxiety, disturb sleep patterns
and reduce the immune system’s
effectiveness at the time it needs to
be in prime condition.
“There are growing concerns about
increasing levels of risky drinking and
other potentially harmful behaviours,”
she said.
“People sometimes, very
understandably, use alcohol to
help with stress or even boredom.
Unfortunately, alcohol can make
stress and anxiety worse even
through it can make us feel a bit
more relaxed initially.”
“Not only can too much alcohol
make mental and physical health
worse for individuals, it can impact on
family members who are now living in
close contact.
“The expectation is this could
become a much bigger problem as
self-isolation requirements extend,
and uncertainties build around
economic and employment security.”
She says emergency departments
are reporting burns from home
cooking accidents as a result of
increased drinking during the crisis.
WARNING ON DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE IN ISOLATION