COVID-19 - Advancing ultrasound with microbubble (USMB) for the modulation of viral entry and production in COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2感染导致COVID-19，这种疾病已迅速成为全球大流行病，全球有超过200万人感染，超过125，000人死于该疾病（截至2020年4月15日）。这种疾病的重大健康、经济和社会成本和负担迫切需要新的疗法，其可以限制感染在受影响个体中的传播，限制感染在个体之间的传播，并治疗表现出严重疾病症状的患者。 超声联合微泡是一种重要的治疗策略，对COVID-19的治疗有很大的希望。该策略涉及全身给予1-5 μm的微泡和超声靶向治疗，超声可以聚焦到患者体内的小体积。超声与微泡（USMB）的联合作用对附近组织具有高度局部化的作用，这可能允许靶向和局部抑制病毒感染或增强抗病毒药物的递送。 SARS-CoV-2病毒感染咽喉细胞，然后感染呼吸道（肺）细胞，导致不良反应。目前还没有有效阻止SARS-CoV-2进入细胞或复制的治疗方法。由瑞尔森大学的Antonescu博士和领先的医疗超声工程公司MD Precision Inc领导的研究人员合作旨在完成两件事：（1）更好地理解USMB对呼吸道细胞的基本作用，包括如何触发药物样分子的摄取或调节病毒进入和复制，以及（2）定义触发这些作用的超声参数，以便允许设计用于临床前和最终临床环境的超声换能器。虽然这项研究旨在了解USMB如何调节细胞对病毒反应的基本特性，但它将对COVID-19治疗的进一步发展具有重要应用。

SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to COVID-19, a disease that has rapidly become a global pandemic, with >2M individuals infected and >125,000 deaths from the disease worldwide (as of April 15th, 2020). The significant health, economic and social cost and burden of this disease urgently requires new therapies that can limit the spread of infection in affected individuals, limit the spread of infection between individuals, and treat patients that exhibit severe disease symptoms. Ultrasound in combination with microbubbles is an important treatment strategy that holds great promise for the treatment of COVID-19. This strategy involves the systemic administration of 1-5 µm microbubbles and the targeted treatment with ultrasound, which can be focused to a small volume within a patient. The combined effect of the ultrasound with microbubbles (USMB) has highly localized effects on nearby tissues, which may allow for targeted and localized suppression of viral infection or enhanced delivery of antiviral drugs. The SARS-CoV-2 virus infects cells of the throat and then of the respiratory tract (lungs), leading to adverse effects. There are no current treatments that can effectively impede SARS-CoV-2 cellular entry or replication. The partnership of researchers led by Dr. Antonescu from Ryerson University and leading medical ultrasound engineering firm MD Precision Inc aims to accomplish two things: (1) obtain an improved understanding of the fundamental effect of USMB on cells of the respiratory tract, including how this triggers uptake of drug-like molecules or modulates virus entry and replication, and (2) define the ultrasound parameters that triggers these effects, in order to allow engineering of ultrasound transducers for use if preclinical and eventually clinical settings. While this research aims to understand the fundamental properties of how USMB modulates cell responses to viruses, it will have important applications to the further development of COVID-19 treatments.