Erythrocytes Induce Vascular Dysfunction in COVID-19
Ali Mahdi, Aida Collado, John Tengbom, Tong Jiao, Tigist Wodaje, Niclas Johansson, Filip Farnebo, Anna Färnert, Jiangning Yang, Jon O. Lundberg, Zhichao Zhou, John Pernow
Abstract
Current knowledge regarding mechanisms underlying cardiovascular complications in patients with COVID-19 is limited and urgently needed. We shed light on a previously unrecognized mechanism and unravel a key role of red blood cells, driving vascular dysfunction in patients with COVID-19 infection. We establish the presence of profound and persistent endothelial dysfunction in vivo in patients with COVID-19. Mechanistically, we show that targeting reactive oxygen species or arginase 1 improves vascular dysfunction mediated by red blood cells. These translational observations hold promise that restoring the redox balance in red blood cells might alleviate the clinical complications of COVID-19–associated vascular dysfunction.