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Review
. 2020 Jul;19(7):102573.
doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2020.102573. Epub 2020 May 5.

COVID-19 gone bad: A new character in the spectrum of the hyperferritinemic syndrome?

Serena Colafrancesco  1 , Cristiano Alessandri  1 , Fabrizio Conti  2 , Roberta Priori  1
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 gone bad: A new character in the spectrum of the hyperferritinemic syndrome?

Serena Colafrancesco et al. Autoimmun Rev. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

The severe form of COVID-19 share several clinical and laboratory features with four entities gathered under the term "hyperferritinemic syndromes" and including macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD), catastrophic anti-phospholipid syndrome (CAPS) and septic shock. COVID-19 systemic inflammatory reaction and "hyperferritinemic syndromes" are all characterized by high serum ferritin and a life-threatening hyper-inflammation sustained by a cytokines storm which eventually leads to multi-organ failure. In this review, we analyze the possible epidemiological and molecular mechanisms responsible for hyper-inflammation in patients with severe COVID-19 and we underline the similarities between this condition and "hyperferritinemic syndromes" which would allow considering severe COVID-19 as a fifth member of this spectrum of inflammatory conditions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cytokine storm; Ferritin; Inflammation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The Authors have neither financial interests nor have received financial support or benefits from commercial sources for the work reported on in the manuscript, which could create a potential conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest with regard to the present work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Molecular and epigenetic factors possibly able to contribute to the evolution of COVID-19 infection toward an exaggerated inflammatory response. Figure modified from Siddiqi HK et al. [7].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Ischemic cerebrovascular diseases in patients with COVID-19.
    El Aoud S, Morin C, Boutin B, Chouchane H, Sorial D, Rondeau P, Thomas L. El Aoud S, et al. Rev Neurol (Paris). 2021 Jan-Feb;177(1-2):136-139. doi: 10.1016/j.neurol.2020.06.002. Epub 2020 Jul 19. Rev Neurol (Paris). 2021. PMID: 32732014 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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