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Review
. 2020 Dec;7(4):520-527.
doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2020.06.009. Epub 2020 Jun 29.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): cytokine storms, hyper-inflammatory phenotypes, and acute respiratory distress syndrome

Shi-Hui Lin  1 , Yi-Si Zhao  1 , Dai-Xing Zhou  2 , Fa-Chun Zhou  1 , Fang Xu  1
Affiliations
Review

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): cytokine storms, hyper-inflammatory phenotypes, and acute respiratory distress syndrome

Shi-Hui Lin et al. Genes Dis. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified in China at the end of 2019. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) represents the most common and serious complication of COVID-19. Cytokine storms are a pathophysiological feature of COVID-19 and play an important role in distinguishing hyper-inflammatory subphenotypes of ARDS. Accordingly, in this review, we focus on hyper-inflammatory host responses in ARDS that play a critical role in the differentiated development of COVID-19. Furthermore, we discuss inflammation-related indicators that have the potential to identify hyper-inflammatory subphenotypes of COVID-19, especially for those with a high risk of ARDS. Finally, we explore the possibility of improving the quality of monitoring and treatment of COVID-19 patients and in reducing the incidence of critical illness and mortality via better distinguishing hyper- and hypo-inflammatory subphenotypes of COVID-19.

Keywords: Acute respiratory distress syndrome; COVID-19; Cytokine storm; Hyper-inflammatory host response; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no competing interests regarding the publication of this paper.

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