Meditation-induced bloodborne factors as an adjuvant treatment to COVID-19 disease

Juan P Zuniga-Hertz; Ramamurthy Chitteti; Joe Dispenza; Raphael Cuomo; Jacqueline A Bonds; Elena L Kopp; Sierra Simpson; Jonathan Okerblom; Svetlana Maurya; Brinda K Rana; Atsushi Miyonahara; Ingrid R Niesman; Jacqueline Maree; Gianna Belza; Hillari D Hamilton; Carla Stanton; David J Gonzalez; Michelle A Poirier; Tobias Moeller-Bertram; Hemal H Patel

doi:10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100675

Meditation-induced bloodborne factors as an adjuvant treatment to COVID-19 disease

Brain Behav Immun Health. 2023 Aug 7:32:100675. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100675. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Juan P Zuniga-Hertz^{1

2}, Ramamurthy Chitteti^{1

2}, Joe Dispenza³, Raphael Cuomo², Jacqueline A Bonds^{1

2}, Elena L Kopp^{1

2}, Sierra Simpson², Jonathan Okerblom², Svetlana Maurya⁴, Brinda K Rana⁵, Atsushi Miyonahara², Ingrid R Niesman⁶, Jacqueline Maree⁷, Gianna Belza^{1

2}, Hillari D Hamilton³, Carla Stanton³, David J Gonzalez^{4

8}, Michelle A Poirier⁷, Tobias Moeller-Bertram⁷, Hemal H Patel^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA, 92161, USA.
² Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
³ Encephalon, Inc., Rainier, WA, 98576, USA.
⁴ Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
⁶ San Diego State University, Electron Microscope Facility, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
⁷ VitaMed Research, 44630 Monterey Ave., Palm Desert, CA, 92260, USA.
⁸ Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Management of the pandemic has relied mainly on SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, while alternative approaches such as meditation, shown to improve immunity, have been largely unexplored. Here, we probe the relationship between meditation and COVID-19 disease and directly test the impact of meditation on the induction of a blood environment that modulates viral infection. We found a significant inverse correlation between length of meditation practice and SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as accelerated resolution of symptomology of those infected. A meditation "dosing" effect was also observed. In cultured human lung cells, blood from experienced meditators induced factors that prevented entry of pseudotyped viruses for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein of both the wild-type Wuhan-1 virus and the Delta variant. We identified and validated SERPINA5, a serine protease inhibitor, as one possible protein factor in the blood of meditators that is necessary and sufficient for limiting pseudovirus entry into cells. In summary, we conclude that meditation can enhance resiliency to viral infection and may serve as a possible adjuvant therapy in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Adoptive blood transfer; COVID-19 disease; Immunity; Meditation; Pseudovirus; SARS-CoV-2; serpin.

Published by Elsevier Inc.

Abstract

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