Implications of Complement Imbalance in COVID-19: A Molecular Mechanistic Discussion on the Importance of Complement Balance

Iran J Immunol. 2023 Aug 7;3(20). doi: 10.22034/iji.2023.97585.2522. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTTwo central questions in COVID-19 treatment which should be considered are: "How does the imbalance of the complement system affect the therapeutic approaches?" and "Do we consider complement inhibitors in therapeutic protocols?". The complement system is a double-edged sword since it may either promote immune responses against COVID-19 or contribute to destructive inflammation in the host. Therefore, it is crucial to regulate this system with complement inhibitors. In this manuscript, we discuss the molecular mechanisms of complement and complement inhibitors in COVID-19 patients. We searched the terms "COVID-19", "Complement", "Complement inhibitor", "SARS-CoV-2", and all complement fragments and inhibitors from 2000 to 2022 in PubMed and google scholar and checked the pathways in "KEGG pathway database". Complement is not well-appreciated in the treatment protocols despite its multiple roles in the disease, and most of the preventive anti-inflammatory therapeutic approaches did not include a complement inhibitor in COVID-19 therapeutic protocols. In this review article, we discussed the most recent studies regarding complement components mediated interventions and the mechanism of these interventions in COVID-19 patients. Since the control of the complement system overactivation is associated with a better prognosis in the initial stages of COVID-19, heparin, anti-thrombin, C...
Source: Iranian Journal of Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Source Type: research