CORONA - PlasmaplusCorona - Plasma-based respiratory tract disinfection to reduce SARSCoV-2 viral load in vitro and in vivo; subproject 3

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide. To date, there are neither effective treatments nor vaccines. Therefore, innovative strategies to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection and concomitant opportunistic respiratory pathogens are urgently needed, especially in artificially ventilated patients. In the body, the virus spreads from the throat to the lungs and other organs and can infect others via aerosols. The PPC strategy is to reduce the viral load and accompanying pathogens in the respiratory tract using cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) or ventilation air or aerosols treated with it. To investigate this therapeutic use of CAP, we are using air-liquid interface (ALI) culture of airway epithelial cells in the PlasmaplusCorona-FZB (PPC-FZB) subproject to analyze I) the anti-infective effect of CAP against coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2), bacterial and fungal pathogens, and II) the toxic and inflammatory response of the epithelial cells. The opportunistic bacteria and fungi studied in this work are particularly problematic in ventilator patients and difficult to treat due to increasing antibiotic resistance. Our studies on the effect of CAP in the ALI model against SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens will serve to optimize this new therapeutic medical technology before it is tested in experimental animals and used in the clinic.