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Cyclosporine and COVID‐19: Risk or favorable?
Author(s) -
Poulsen Nadia Nicholine,
Brunn Albrecht,
Hornum Mads,
Blomberg Jensen Martin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/ajt.16250
Subject(s) - medicine , ards , cytokine storm , coronavirus , pandemic , population , disease , intensive care medicine , clinical trial , covid-19 , immunology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , lung , environmental health
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic is declared a global health emergency. COVID‐19 is triggered by a novel coronavirus: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). Baseline characteristics of admitted patients with COVID‐19 show that adiposity, diabetes, and hypertension are risk factors for developing severe disease, but so far immunosuppressed patients who are listed as high‐risk patients have not been more susceptible to severe COVID‐19 than the rest of the population. Multiple clinical trials are currently being conducted, which may identify more drugs that can lower mortality, morbidity, and burden on the society. Several independent studies have convincingly shown that cyclosporine inhibit replication of several different coronaviruses in vitro. The cyclosporine‐analog alisporivir has recently been shown to inhibit SARS‐CoV‐2 in vitro. These findings are intriguing, although there is no clinical evidence for a protective effect to reduce the likelihood of severe COVID‐19 or to treat the immune storm or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that often causes severe morbidity. Here, we review the putative link between COVID‐19 and cyclosporine, while we await more robust clinical data.