Are superantigens the cause of cytokine storm and viral sepsis in severe COVID‐19? Observations and hypothesis

Right now the world is going through an unprecedented pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus. Recent papers pointed out the fatal outcome in most of the severe cases, in which a cytokine storm has been proven to be the cause of a systemic shock, acute respiratory syndrome, multiorgan failure and con...

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Published inScandinavian Journal of Immunology Vol. 92; no. 6; pp. e12944 - n/a
Main Authors Scaglioni, Valeria, Soriano, Enrique R.
Format Journal Article Web Resource
LanguageEnglish
Published England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2020
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subjects
Antigen Presentation
CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - immunology
Cytokine storm
Cytokines
Cytokines - metabolism
Dendritic Cells - immunology
Discussion Forum
Humans
Hypotheses
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2 - physiology
Sepsis
Sepsis - immunology
shock
superantigen
Superantigens
Superantigens - immunology
COVID-19
cytokine storm
superantigen
shock
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Summary:Right now the world is going through an unprecedented pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus. Recent papers pointed out the fatal outcome in most of the severe cases, in which a cytokine storm has been proven to be the cause of a systemic shock, acute respiratory syndrome, multiorgan failure and consequently death. Several explanations have been proposed trying to explain the pathophysiology of the cytokine storm, but viral proteins with a possible superantigen activity as a cause of immune dysregulation have not been addressed. If this hypothesis is proven, a different treatment approach might change the outcome in severe cases.
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ISSN:0300-9475
1365-3083
DOI:10.1111/sji.12944