Photobiomodulation: Shining Light on COVID-19

Objective: To evaluate the hypothesis that light could reduce the lethality of COVID-19.

Methods: Most models for projections of the spread and lethality of COVID-19 take into account the ambient temperature, neglecting light. Recent advances in understanding the mechanism of action of COVID-19 have shown that it causes a systemic infection that significantly affects the hematopoietic system and hemostasis, factors extremely dependent of light, mainly in the region of visible and infrared radiation.

Results: In the COVID-19 patients hemoglobin is decreasing and protoporphyrin is increasing, generating an extremely harmful accumulation of iron ions in the bloodstream, which are able to induce an intense inflammatory process in the body with a consequent increase in C-reactive protein and albumin. Observing the unsaturation characteristics of the cyclic porphyrin ring allows it to absorb and emit radiation mainly in the visible region. This characteristic can represent an important differential to change this process in the event of an imbalance in this system, through the photobiomodulation to increase the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) using red and near-infrared radiation (R-NIR) and vitamin D using ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. These two compounds have the primary role of activating the defense mechanisms of the immune system, enabling greater resistance of the individual against the attack by the virus. According to the theory of electron excitation in photosensitive molecules, similar to hemoglobin heme, after the photon absorption there would be an increase in the stability of the iron ion bond with the center of the pyrrole ring, preventing the losses of heme function oxygen transport (HbO₂). The light is also absorbed by cytochrome c oxidase in the R-NIR region, with a consequent increase in electron transport, regulating enzyme activity and resulting in a significant increase of oxygen rate consumption by mitochondria, increasing ATP production.

Conclusions: The most favorable range of optical radiation to operate in this system is between R-NIR region, in which cytochrome c oxidase and porphyrin present absorption peaks centered at 640 nm and HbO₂ with absorption peak centered at 900 nm. Based on the mechanisms described earlier, our hypothesis is that light could reduce the lethality of COVID-19.