Journal of Inflammation Research (Jul 2021)
Immunomodulation as a Potent COVID-19 Pharmacotherapy: Past, Present and Future
Abstract
Decsa Medika Hertanto,1,2 Bayu Satria Wiratama,3,4 Henry Sutanto,5,6 Citrawati Dyah Kencono Wungu7,8 1Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Dr. Soetomo General Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia; 3Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; 4Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Department of Cardiology, CARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; 6Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University, New York, NY, USA; 7Department of Physiology and Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia; 8Institute of Tropical Disease, Airlangga University, Surabaya, IndonesiaCorrespondence: Citrawati Dyah Kencono WunguDepartment of Physiology and Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, IndonesiaEmail [email protected]: In the first year of its appearance, the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected more than 150 million individuals and killed 3 million people worldwide. The pandemic has also triggered numerous global initiatives to tackle the newly emerging disease, including the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the attempt to discover potential pharmacological therapies. Nonetheless, despite the success of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, COVID-19 therapy remains challenging. Several repurposed drugs that were documented to be useful in small clinical trials have been shown to be ineffective in larger studies. Additionally, the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection displayed the predominance of hyperinflammation and immune dysregulation in inducing multiorgan damage. Therefore, the potential benefits of both immune modulation and suppression in COVID-19 have been extensively discussed. Here, we reviewed the roles of immunomodulation as potential COVID-19 pharmacological modalities based on the existing data and proposed several new immunologic targets to be tested in the foreseeable future.Keywords: COVID-19, immunomodulation, immunology, immune system, pharmacotherapy, coronavirus, drug repurposing
