A study conducted by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) suggests that irisin, a hormone secreted from muscles in response to exercise, could have a therapeutic effect on COVID-19 patients. When they analyzed adipose cell gene expression, the researchers found that irisin modulated genes associated with replication of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in human cells.

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This finding was based on analysis of the transcriptome (all RNAs produced by genes) of adipose cells not infected by SARS-CoV-2 and treated with irisin. "We compared data for genes important in COVID-19 with our transcriptomic data to make correlations. The results offer a clue in the search for treatment of the disease during the emergency caused by the pandemic. It must be stressed that our findings are preliminary and merely suggest that irisin could have therapeutic potential in cases of COVID-19. Further research can pick up from here to see whether irisin's effects on patients with the disease are indeed beneficial," Miriane de Oliveira, a researcher at UNESP's Medical School in Botucatu, São Paulo (Brazil), told Agência FAPESP.

An article describing the study is published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. The data were produced by Oliveira in postdoctoral research supported by FAPESP and focusing on the action of irisin and thyroid hormones in adipocytes.