Consideration of dornase alfa for the treatment of severe COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome

A P Earhart; Z M Holliday; H V Hofmann; A G Schrum

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100689

Consideration of dornase alfa for the treatment of severe COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome

New Microbes New Infect. 2020 Apr 30:35:100689. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100689. eCollection 2020 May.

Authors

A P Earhart¹, Z M Holliday², H V Hofmann², A G Schrum^{3

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Affiliations

¹ Molecular Pathogenesis & Therapeutics Program, University of Missouri Graduate School, Columbia, MO, USA.
² Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
³ Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
⁴ Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
⁵ Biomedical, Biological, & Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.

Abstract

We propose a likely contribution to severe COVID-19 morbidity by extracellular DNA in neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Dornase alfa degrades extracellular DNA to reduce mucus rigidity and accumulation, and was associated with respiratory improvement in a first patient. Dornase alfa should be considered for clinical trials in treatment of severe COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; DNAse 1; Neutrophil extracellular trap; acute respiratory distress syndrome; dornase alfa.

Grants and funding

R01 GM103841/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States