Pathogenesis of IL-6 and potential therapeutic of IFN-γ in COVID-19

Abstract

The elevated inflammatory cytokines suggest that a cytokine storm, also known as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), may play a major role in the pathology of pandemic Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) leading to cause Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction then death. However, there was a controversial efficacy of corticosteroids in the treatment of COVID-19 induced cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Novel therapies to treat COVID-19-induced CRS become urgent needed. One of the most common cytokine that showed to be critical in the COVID-19 is the IL-6 and this article discuss the pathogenesis of this cytokine in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Also, this article proposes to utilize interleukin-6 (IL-6) blockade and potential therapeutic effect of IFN-γ to manage COVID-19-induced CRS and discuss several factors that should be taken into consideration for its clinical application. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4004241

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2
• COVID-19
• IL-6
• IFN-γ