What lies beneath COVID-19 inflammation

(Image: Pixabay CC0) - Scientists at EPFL and the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) have found the biological mechanism behind the inflammation seen in COVID-19 infections that involve a rise in interferons in the lungs and skin. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, scientists across the world are looking at the pathology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in an effort to find effective treatments for patients. In that vein of research, the groups of Andrea Ablasser at EPFL and Michel Gilliet at CHUV have discovered a signaling pathway that is involved in the inflammation seen in COVID-19 patients. The cGAS-STING signaling pathway The signaling pathway is known as cGAS-STING, and its role in the cell is to detect foreign DNA, e.g. from bacteria or viruses, that has entered the cell's cytosol - the fluid inside the cell that contains all the organelles. Upon sensing DNA, the cGAS-STING signaling pathway triggers a cascade of molecular reactions that ends up activating inflammatory genes. Now active, the genes begin their own cascades to turn on defense mechanisms to fight the infection. However, the pathway can also respond to a cell's own DNA - a process that has over the years been linked to various inflammatory diseases.