Title:Therapeutics for the Management of Cytokine Release Syndrome in
COVID-19
Volume: 23
Issue: 2
Author(s): Shampa Ghosh, Shantanu Durgvanshi, Sung Soo Han, Rakesh Bhaskar*Jitendra Kumar Sinha*
Affiliation:
- 3School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsang 38541, South Korea
- Amity
Institute of Neuropsychology and Neurosciences (AINN), Amity University UP, Sector -125, Noida, 201303, India
Keywords:
Cytokine storm, Pneumonia, Viral infection, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Repurposed drugs, SARS-CoV-2.
Abstract: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the greatest pandemic of this era and has affected
more than 10 million people across 213 nations. However, the etiology, management, and treatment
of COVID-19 remain unknown. A better understanding of the novel virus would help in developing
accurate diagnostic methods and efficacious drugs for the treatment of patients of all age groups. To
control the pandemic urgently, many drugs are being repurposed and several clinical trials are in
progress for the same. As cytokine storm has been observed to be one of the common mechanisms
of immune response in COVID-19 patients, several drugs are under trials to control the cytokine
storm. In this review, we discuss the different categories of drugs in clinical trials for the management
of cytokine storms in COVID-19 patients. Hitherto, several promising candidates such as IL-1
and IL-6 inhibitors have failed to display efficacy in the trials. Only corticosteroid therapy has
shown benefit so far, albeit limited to patients on ventilator support. Thus, it is crucial to seek novel
strategies to combat hyperinflammation and increase survival in COVID-19 afflicted patients.