NSAIDs might exacerbate or suppress COVID-19 depending on timing, mouse study suggests

I'm sure this is not surprising to many who are familiar with the subject.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/asfm-nme012221.php

 

News Release 22-Jan-2021
American Society for Microbiology

 

 New research shows that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduced both antibody and inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice. The study appears this week in the Journal of Virology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology.

The research is important because "NSAIDs are arguably the most commonly used anti-inflammatory medications," said principal investigator Craig B. Wilen, Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Immunology, Yale University School of Medicine.


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The research also suggests that the consequences of NSAID use during natural infection and vaccination should be evaluated in humans, said Dr. Wilen. "This data likely exists, particularly in the clinical trials for the vaccines, so it should be mined to see if it produces antibody responses in people."

"Taking NSAIDs during COVID-19 could be harmful or beneficial, depending on the timing of administration," said Dr.Wilen. The potent anti-inflammatory, dexamethasone (not an NSAID), is detrimental to COVID-19 sufferers when taken early in the infection, but beneficial when administered during later stages of COVID-19, said Dr. Wilen.

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A reduction in neutralizing antibodies caused by NSAIDs might be benign, or it might blunt the immune system's ability to fight the disease during the early stages of infection. It could also reduce the magnitude and/or length of protection from either natural infection or vaccination, said Dr. Wilen.

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