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Review
. 2020 Aug 6:40:19.
doi: 10.1186/s41232-020-00131-w. eCollection 2020.

Macrophage activation syndrome and COVID-19

Ryo Otsuka  1 , Ken-Ichiro Seino  1
Affiliations
Review

Macrophage activation syndrome and COVID-19

Ryo Otsuka et al. Inflamm Regen. .

Abstract

An emerging, rapidly spreading coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is causing a devastating pandemic. As we have not developed curative medicine and effective vaccine, the end of this life-threatening infectious disease is still unclear. Severe COVID-19 is often associated with hypercytokinemia, which is typically found in macrophage activation syndrome. SARS-CoV-2 infection causes this strong inflammation within the lung and propagates to respiratory and, ultimately, systemic organ malfunction. Although we have not fully understood the physiological and pathological aspects of COVID-19, current research progress indicates the effectiveness of anti-cytokine therapy. Here, we summarize macrophage activation syndrome and its possible contribution to COVID-19, and cytokine targeted attempts in severe COVID-19 cases.

Keywords: Anti-cytokine therapy; COVID-19; Cytokine storm; Macrophage activation syndrome; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Macrophage activation and its synergistic augmentation of inflammation in COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 infects pneumocytes or enters macrophage. Infection-induced cell death promotes the release of damage signal molecules and inflammatory cytokines. Macrophages are activated upon inflammatory signal or viral genome entry then produce inflammatory cytokines and chemokines which recruit and activate T cells. Feedback inflammatory signals from T cells further activate macrophages. Synergistic augmentation of inflammation spread the entire lung and consequently systemic organ
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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