Cytokine storms, evolution and COVID-19

Joe Alcock; Alix Masters

doi:10.1093/emph/eoab005

Cytokine storms, evolution and COVID-19

Evol Med Public Health. 2021 Feb 4;9(1):83-92. doi: 10.1093/emph/eoab005. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Joe Alcock¹, Alix Masters²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, MSC11 6025 1, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
² Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.

Abstract

Since the identification of severe illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the role of the host immune system in causing disease has attracted widespread attention, along with intense interest in medical interventions that target the host immune response. A wide variety of agents have been proposed to treat a cytokine storm in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but so far, only one class of medications, corticosteroids, has proved useful. In recent decades, experimental therapies for cytokine storms have been tried and mostly failed to help patients with severe sepsis and other infections. We summarize this history in order to frame expectations for novel interventions in COVID-19 and to bring an evolutionary medicine perspective to the concept of cytokine storms and their treatment.

Keywords: Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2; corticosteroids; cytokine storm; immunity.

Publication types

Review