Open AccessIL-6: THE CHOIRMASTER ORCHESTRATING THE COVID-19 CYTOKINE STORMSYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Author(s) -
Devika Menrai,
Kavita Sane,
Swapnali S. Kadam
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of scientific research
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.36106/ijsr/7525405
Subject(s) - cytokine storm , pathophysiology , medicine , cytokine , disease , covid-19 , immune system , immunology , pandemic , regimen , bioinformatics , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biology
Background: Millions of people have died of acute lung injury, in the current global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. An effective treatment regimen is yet to be established and will require an understanding of the intricate details of the disease pathophysiology. The death of patients is primarily attributed to the cytokine storm resulting from excessive activation of immune system, with a predominant role of IL-6. There is a divergence between its role in mild/moderate group and severe group. The need for a comprehensive understanding of IL-6 involvement in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 is imperative to control its spread and find its treatment.Methods: This systematic review was written after conducting a systematic search from 4 June, 2020 to 17 June 2020 in the PubMed database using the keywords Coronavirus COVID-19, IL-6, pathophysiology, and cytokine storm. Only articles written in English and those regarding the role of IL-6 in COVID-19 pathophysiology and correlating levels of IL-6 with severity of disease were included.Findings: The abstracts of 74 articles were screened, of which 23 full text articles were read and 6 articles were included in the review.Interpretation: IL-6 is one of the earliest indicators of the prognosis of COVID-19. It acts by classic signaling pathway in mild/moderate patients eliciting an anti-inflammatory response, and in severe patients, by trans-signaling pathway by which it elaborates a cytokine storm. Dysregulation in IL-6 regulating enzymes and NF-kB gene translation too play a role in the cytokine storm. Funding: None.