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Review
. 2021 Jul 14;13(7):1362.
doi: 10.3390/v13071362.

The Mechanism behind Influenza Virus Cytokine Storm

Yinuo Gu  1 , Xu Zuo  1 , Siyu Zhang  1 , Zhuoer Ouyang  1 , Shengyu Jiang  1 , Fang Wang  1 , Guoqiang Wang  1
Affiliations
Review

The Mechanism behind Influenza Virus Cytokine Storm

Yinuo Gu et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Influenza viruses are still a serious threat to human health. Cytokines are essential for cell-to-cell communication and viral clearance in the immune system, but excessive cytokines can cause serious immune pathology. Deaths caused by severe influenza are usually related to cytokine storms. The recent literature has described the mechanism behind the cytokine-storm network and how it can exacerbate host pathological damage. Biological factors such as sex, age, and obesity may cause biological differences between different individuals, which affects cytokine storms induced by the influenza virus. In this review, we summarize the mechanism behind influenza virus cytokine storms and the differences in cytokine storms of different ages and sexes, and in obesity.

Keywords: age; cytokine storm; influenza virus; obesity; sex.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immune pathways triggered by influenza-virus infection. Influenza viruses first infect alveolar or airway epithelial cells. Viral RNA in the cytoplasm is recognized by RIG-I, TLR3, TLR7, and NLR. TLR pathway activates downstream IRF3 and IRF7 to regulate the production of IFNs. Binding viral RNA to the RIG-I receptor can trigger its interaction with MAVS to activate NF-κB. MAVS and NLR activate inflammasomes under the action of viral RNA to release IL-1β and IL-18, thereby forming a cytokine storm.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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