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Review
. 2021 Oct 4:12:687397.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.687397. eCollection 2021.

Commonalities Between ARDS, Pulmonary Fibrosis and COVID-19: The Potential of Autotaxin as a Therapeutic Target

Konstantinos Ntatsoulis  1 , Theodoros Karampitsakos  2 , Eliza Tsitoura  3 , Elli-Anna Stylianaki  1 , Alexios N Matralis  1 , Argyrios Tzouvelekis  2 , Katerina Antoniou  3 , Vassilis Aidinis  1
Affiliations
Review

Commonalities Between ARDS, Pulmonary Fibrosis and COVID-19: The Potential of Autotaxin as a Therapeutic Target

Konstantinos Ntatsoulis et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Severe COVID-19 is characterized by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like hyperinflammation and endothelial dysfunction, that can lead to respiratory and multi organ failure and death. Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) and pulmonary fibrosis confer an increased risk for severe disease, while a subset of COVID-19-related ARDS surviving patients will develop a fibroproliferative response that can persist post hospitalization. Autotaxin (ATX) is a secreted lysophospholipase D, largely responsible for the extracellular production of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a pleiotropic signaling lysophospholipid with multiple effects in pulmonary and immune cells. In this review, we discuss the similarities of COVID-19, ARDS and ILDs, and suggest ATX as a possible pathologic link and a potential common therapeutic target.

Keywords: ARDS; Autotaxin; COVID-19; lysophosphatidic acid; pulmonary fibrosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the mode of binding (color coded) to ATX by the 4 different types of ATX inhibitors (I-IV). The mode of binding of LPA is also displayed (in green).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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