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Favorable clinical outcome for ivermectin in
COVID19 animal model
By Angela Betsaida B. Laguipo, BSN Nov 23 2020
The coronavirus disease (COVID19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARSCoV2), has caused more than 59 million cases
globally.
Currently, there is no vaccine or drug approved for the infection. However,
doctors and scientists use repurposed medicines to help hospitalized patients
recover faster and improve clinical outcomes.
One of the drugs proposed is the antiparasitic drug ivermectin (IVM).
A team of researchers at the Institut Pasteur in France has found that
ivermectin prevented clinical deterioration in infected animals. The drug also
reduced the inflammatory cytokines, interleukin6 and 10 (IL6 and IL10) in
lung tissue, which leads to more favorable clinical outcomes in treated
animals.
What is ivermectin?
Ivermectin is an FDAapproved broadspectrum antiparasitic agent.
Introduced initially as a veterinary drug, it kills a wide range of internal and
external parasites in commercial livestock animals. In recent years,
ivermectin has been used to treat various diseases, with its antimicrobial and
antiviral properties.
Recently, the use of the drug has been proposed, given its potential anti
SARSCoV2 activity.
"Ivermectin is a positive allosteric modulator of the alpha7
nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which has been suggested to
represent a target for the control of Covid19 infection, with a
potential immunomodulatory activity," the researchers wrote in
the paper.
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Favorable clinical outcome for ivermectin in COVID-19 animal model
The study
The study, which appeared on the preprint serve bioRxiv*, aimed to
investigate the effects of ivermectin alone on SARSCoV2 infection using
golden Syrian hamsters as models for COVID19.
The researchers inoculated the animals with SARSCoV2, which caused
symptomatic infection. The hamsters showed a high incidence of anosmia or
the loss of smell and high viral loads in the upper and lower respiratory tracts
within four days.
The team also administered a single subcutaneous injection of ivermectin at
the time of the infection. They monitored the hamsters for four days.
Meanwhile, mockinfected animals received a physiological solution only.
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Favorable clinical outcome for ivermectin in COVID-19 animal model
Clinical presentation and olfaction test of SARSCoV2infected hamsters with
and without ivermectin treatment. a. clinical signs and olfactory deficit in all
infected hamsters. b, clinical signs and olfactory deficit in infected male
hamsters only. c, clinical signs and olfactory deficit in infected female
hamsters only. The clinical score is based on a cumulative 04 scale: ruffled
fur; slow movements; apathy; stress when manipulated. The olfaction test is
based on the buried food finding test. Curves represent the percentage of
animals that did not find the buried food. Food finding assays were performed
at 3 days postinfection. MannWhitney test at 4 dpi (clinical signs) and Log
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Favorable clinical outcome for ivermectin in COVID-19 animal model
at 3 days postinfection. MannWhitney test at 4 dpi (clinical signs) and Log
rank (MantelCox) test (olfaction tests). The p value is indicated in bold when
significant at a 0.05 threshold. Symbols indicate the median ± interquartile
range. Data were obtained from three independent experiments for males and
two independent experiments for females.
Reduced olfactory deficit
The study findings showed that ivermectintreated and infected animals
manifested a reduction in the severity of clinical signs. Interestingly, the
animal that received ivermectin had a reduced olfactory deficit.
About 66.7 percent of the mock animals presented with hyposmia or
anosmia, compared with just 22.2 percent in those who received ivermectin.
Interleukin6 and 10 (IL6 and IL10) in lung
tissue
When the team treated the animals with ivermectin, there were marked
differences between sex groups in the nasal turbinates. Female hamsters
manifested a downregulation of some mediators, such as the IL6 and IL10,
tumor necrosis factor (Tnfα), and the CXC motif chemokine ligand 10
(CXCL10). Meanwhile, men presented an increase in two proinflammatory
mediators, interferongamma (IFNγ) and chemokine ligand 5 (Ccl5).
Moreover, there is a lower expression of Cxcl10, a key mediator involved in
respiratory disease and olfaction dysfunction in COVID19 patients, in the
nasal turbinates of animals treated with ivermectintreated females without
marked changes in males.
"These findings are in line with the better performance of IVM
treated females observed in the food finding tests," the
researchers explained.
The team found a marked overexpression of interleukin 10 (IL10) in IVM
treated males and females, which may be tied to a modulation of the lungs'
inflammatory response.
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Favorable clinical outcome for ivermectin in COVID-19 animal model
Further, the Il6/Il10 ratio in the lung in the IVMtreated hamsters was lower
than in those who were not given the drug.
"In particular, the low Il6/Il10 17 ratio observed in the lung of
IVMtreated hamsters may predict their better clinical
presentation, as observed in humans, as lower plasmatic IL
6/IL10 ratios are detected in hospitalized COVID19 patients
who do not require intensive care," the researchers wrote in the
study.
The researchers concluded that ivermectin might be considered as a new
therapeutic agent against COVID19. The drug can help improve patients'
prognosis as it leads to the modulation of the cytokine gene expressed in the
airways.
*Important Notice
bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peerreviewed
and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical
practice/healthrelated behavior, or treated as established information.
Journal reference:
AntiCOVID19 efficacy of ivermectin in the golden hamster, Guilherme
Dias de Melo, Françoise Lazarini, Florence Larrous, Lena Feige, Lauriane
Kergoat, Agnes Marchio, Pascal Pineau, Marc Lecuit, PierreMarie Lledo,
JeanPierre Changeux, Herve Bourhy, bioRxiv 2020.11.21.392639; doi:
https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.21.39263, https://www.biorxiv.
org/content/10.1101/2020.11.21.392639v1
Written by
Angela Betsaida B. Laguipo
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Favorable clinical outcome for ivermectin in COVID-19 animal model
Angela is a nurse by profession and a writer by heart. She graduated with honors
(Cum Laude) for her Bachelor of Nursing degree at the University of Baguio,
Philippines. She is currently completing her Master's Degree where she specialized
in Maternal and Child Nursing and worked as a clinical instructor and educator in
the School of Nursing at the University of Baguio.
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