Cytokine Storms in Cancer and COVID-19

Cancer Cell

Fecha de publicación: October 02, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2020.09.019

Autores: Casmir Turnquist, Bríd M. Ryan, Izumi Horikawa, Brent T. Harris, Curtis C. Harris.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, research on “cytokine storms” has been reinvigorated in the field of infectious disease, but it also has particular relevance to cancer research. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has emerged as a key component of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, such that the repurposing of anti-IL-6 therapeutics for COVID-19 is now a major line of investigation, with several ongoing clinical trials. We lay a framework for understanding the role of IL-6 in the context of cancer research and COVID-19 and suggest how lessons learned from cancer research may impact SARS-CoV-2 research and vice versa.