The Role of Aberrant Cytokine Activity in COVID-19 Disease

Emerging reports from the COVID-19 pandemic include a spectrum of patient symptoms due to the host immune response. Host cells utilize cytokines and chemokines to coordinate nearly all aspects of an immunogenic response to pathogens, including acute inflammation, innate response, and adaptive immunity. Evidence increasingly suggests that cytokine release syndrome — an exuberant, hyperinflammatory immune response — may be responsible for severe complications, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi organ failure, and death, as well as many of the observed, yet unanticipated symptoms of COVID-19.

In this webinar, we will discuss early research and nascent hypotheses about the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2–induced COVID-19 disease by evaluating cytokine and chemokine profiles, the role of chronic inflammation in comorbidities, and the arc of immune resolution of historical virulent pathogens, such as SARS and MERS.