Current Medicine Research and Practice (Jan 2021)

Siltuximab - A monoclonal antibody against the interleukin-6 receptor is not an ideal option for management of COVID-19

  • I Jerlin Michelle,
  • S A Shevaani,
  • Kiran Kumar Rathinam,
  • Justin Jacob Abraham,
  • Muhasaparur Ganesan Rajanandh,
  • Thangavel Mahalingam Vijayakumar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/cmrp.cmrp_28_20
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 3
pp. 121 – 124

Abstract

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The sudden outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which emerged in Wuhan city, China, has resulted in a global pandemic, posing a major health concern worldwide. Despite multiple therapeutic interventions, no treatment has yet proven effective in treating COVID-19. Furthermore, the complicated virology of SARS-CoV-2 makes the process of identifying effective treatments, an arduous task. COVID-19, being affecting the upper and lower respiratory tract, is associated with consequent release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in which interleukin (IL)-6 receptor plays a key role. The elevated inflammatory cytokines resulting in a cytokine storm play a major role in the pathology of COVID-19. Siltuximab has become a keen interest for researchers because it is a chimeric, human-murine, immunoglobulin G monoclonal antibody that binds and neutralises human IL-6 with high affinity and specificity. In this article, we tried to evaluate why siltuximab is not a suitable option for treating novel coronavirus from the clinical study evidence.

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