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Review
. 2020 Sep 6;8(17):3621-3644.
doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i17.3621.

Autoimmunity as the comet tail of COVID-19 pandemic

Rossella Talotta  1 , Erle Robertson  2
Affiliations
Review

Autoimmunity as the comet tail of COVID-19 pandemic

Rossella Talotta et al. World J Clin Cases. .

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can give rise to different clinical manifestations that are directly related to viral tissue damage or indirectly induced by the antiviral immune response. Hyper-activation of the immune system in an attempt to eradicate the infection may trigger autoimmunity. Several immune-mediated disorders have been described in SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals. These include cutaneous rashes and vasculitis, autoimmune cytopenia, anti-phospholipid syndrome, central or peripheral neuropathy, myositis and myocarditis. On the other hand, rheumatic patients were reported to have similar coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) incidence, morbidity and mortality rates compared to general population. This opinion review will summarize the crucial immunologic steps which occur during SARS-CoV-2-infection that may link autoimmunity to COVID-19 and provides an opportunity for further discussion regarding this association.

Keywords: Autoimmune diseases; Autoimmunity; COVID-19; Host-virus interaction; Rheumatic diseases; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunologic pathways activated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. SARS-CoV2: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; TLR: Toll-like receptor; IL: Interleukin; NLRP3: Nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain (PYD)-containing 3; NF-kB: Nuclear factor-kB; RIG-I: Retinoic-acid inducible gene I; MDA5: Melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5; IFN-I: Type I interferon; pDC: Plasmacytoid dendritic cell; MHC: Major histocompatibility complex; TCR: T cell receptor; Th: T helper; NET: Neutrophil extracellular trap.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Organ localization of immune-mediated disorders related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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