COVID-19 Pandemic and Traditional Chinese Medicines
Hanadi Talal Ahmedah, Muhammad Riaz, Sagheer Ahmed, Marius Alexandru Moga in The Covid-19 Pandemic, 2023
One of many pathogenic mechanisms that COVID-19 triggers in the body is cytokine storm in which various inflammatory factors like IFNα, IFNβ, IL-1, IL-6, IL-12 and TNFα are produced by the body. Cytokines are produced as a result of inflammatory factors production which cause damage to cells and organs. Therefore, severity of disease and mortality rate can be reduced in the patients by reducing body’s cytokine storm. TCM concoctions that contain Agastache rugosa (Korean mint), Moslae herba, Flos Chrsanthemi indici and Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) have the ability to act on TNF, MAPK, NF-icB signaling pathways and suppress cytokine levels in the body. TCM concoctions containing above components are Jin Hua Qing Gan Granule, Shengjiang powder, Huashi Baidu Prescription, QingfeiPaidu Decoction, Maxing Shigan Decoction, Xuebijing injection, Reduning injection and Xiyanping Injection. The arachidonic acid (AA) metabolic pathway is also involved in the production of various inflammatory factors like TNF, IFN, interleukins, and monocyte chemo attractant protein 1 (MCP-1), etc. So, by mediating AA metabolic pathway with TCM decoctions, cytokine storm can be prevented. TCM medicines like Jin Hua Qing Gan Granule, Xuebijing injection, Reduning injection, QingfeiPaidu Decoction and Tanreqing injection have inhibitory effect on arachidonic acid (AA) metabolic pathway and are crucial for alleviating cytokine storms. Other than these medicines some naturally occurring flavonoids like vitamin C, curcumin, and glycyrrhizin also have the ability to prevent cytokine storm [34].
Immuno-Pathologic Basis of COVID-19 and the Management of Mild and Moderate Cases
Srijan Goswami, Chiranjeeb Dey in COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, 2022
The levels of IL-2, IL-7, IL-10, GSCF, IP-10, MCP1, MIP1a, and TNF-α in the blood of severely ill COVID-19 patients were also elevated. In short, the aberrant release of multiple cytokines appears to trigger a cytokine storm that produces immunopathogenic damage to tissues and organs, even while the immune response seeks to suppress and eradicate the virus (Wiersinga et al., 2020). Thus, it can be mentioned that the cytokine storm involves an immune response that causes collateral damage that may be greater than the immediate benefit of the immune response. Figure 7.5 and Table 7.1 represent specific organs involved and respective signs and symptoms of a systemic cytokine storm. Further studies should be done to find out the detailed pathogenesis of COVID-19 and cytokine storms (Wiersinga et al., 2020; Price et al., 2020; Dutta et al., 2020; Fajgenbaum and June, 2020; WHO, 2020a; Yuki et al., 2020; Kumar and Al Khodor, 2020; Parasher, 2021; Cevik et al., 2020; Abbas et al., 2016; Oliveira et al, 2020).
Challenges in Delivering Gene Therapy
Yashwant Pathak in Gene Delivery, 2022
With the body’s immune response affecting the delivery for gene therapy, there must be strategies to circumvent this immune response. One way of regulating an immune response has been the use of immunosuppressive agents like cyclosporine, tacrolimus, and cyclophosphamide [42]. These immunosuppressive drugs block various pathways that result from antigen presentation all the way to the activation of B and T cells. By using these drugs in conjunction with gene therapy, the immunosuppressive drugs inhibit the synthesis and release of cytokines, while preventing the differentiation of CD4 cells, hence blocking an immune response [43]. This method could hold promising results, such that the suppression of the immune response will allow the vector to unpack the DNA and allow it to integrate the host cell.
Pharmacotherapeutic options for cancer cachexia: emerging drugs and recent approvals
Published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2023
Lorena Garcia-Castillo, Giacomo Rubini, Paola Costelli
Anti-cytokine strategies are based on the blockade of a cytokine synthesis or action. Relevant examples are etanercept, infliximab, pentoxifylline, and thalidomide. Pentoxifylline, an agent reducing blood viscosity, etanercept, and infliximab, both anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies, have been studied as TNF-α targeting agents, showing that no improvement of cachexia could be observed in cancer patients [33,35]. Thalidomide is a glutamic acid derivative able to suppress several cytokines (including TNF-α and IL-6) and to inhibit NF-kB, thereby exerting, among others, an anti-inflammatory effect. Patients treated for four weeks with thalidomide gained 0.37 kg of body weight and 1.0 cm3 in arm muscle mass, while the placebo group lost 2.21 kg and 4.6 cm3, respectively [33]. The most promising results came from a phase II study in which non-small cell lung cancer patients administered a humanized anti-IL6 antibody showed improvement of anemia and cachexia [36]. Consistently, tocilizumab, an anti-IL6 receptor antibody was reported to effectively counteract cachexia. However, nowadays no anti-IL6 strategy reached the approval for clinical use.
Local delivery of interleukin 7 with an oncolytic adenovirus activates tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and causes tumor regression
Published in OncoImmunology, 2022
Tatiana V. Kudling, James H.A. Clubb, Dafne C.A. Quixabeira, Joao M. Santos, Riikka Havunen, Alexander Kononov, Camilla Heiniö, Victor Cervera-Carrascon, Santeri Pakola, Saru Basnet, Susanna Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela, Victor Arias, Ivan Gladwyn-Ng, Katri Aro, Leif Bäck, Jari Räsänen, Ilkka Ilonen, Kristian Borenius, Mikko Räsänen, Otto Hemminki, Antti Rannikko, Anna Kanerva, Johanna Tapper, Akseli Hemminki
Cytokines are small protein molecules that provide growth, differentiation, and inflammatory or anti-inflammatory signals to different cell types. Cytokine immunotherapy is an appealing approach for treating cancer patients with advanced malignancies because signals transduced via cytokines activate the host immune system, making it more efficient in the recognition and elimination of cancer cells. However, to date, only two cytokines – interleukin 2 (IL2) and interferon-alpha – are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for cancer treatment.1,2 Both of them can stimulate the proliferation and activation of T cells, but high concentrations are needed to achieve therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients. Consequently, increasing the systemic dose results in adverse events before sufficient tumor concentrations can be reached.3–5
Dysregulated Serum Cytokine Production in Pediatric Patients with β-Thalassemia Major
Published in Hemoglobin, 2022
Li Zhang, Li-Juan Bao, Zheng-Dong Hong, Mu-Xia Yan, Zhi-Hua Zhang, Yan-Mei Li, Qian Ye, Yi-Qian Wang
Cytokines refer to a cell-signaling group of low molecular weight extracellular polypeptides or glycoproteins released by activated monocytes, macrophages and T lymphocytes [11]. Moreover, cytokines play a salient role in mediating communication among immune and non-immune cells. Abnormal cytokine profile is linked to various disease states, including chronic inflammation and allergy [11]. In thalassemic patients, deregulated serum levels of cytokines have been implicated to exert biological and clinical effects [8,12]. The present study aimed to determine the serum levels of a series of cytokines, including interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-8, IL-13, and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), and to correlate these findings with the immune status in patients affected by β-TM. In particular, T-helper type 2 (Th2) cells, predominantly produce IL-4 and IL-13, thus playing a major role in regulating the responses of lymphocytes, myeloid cells, and nonhematopoietic cells [13]. It is noteworthy that TGF-β is largely involved in the initiation and resolution of inflammatory responses by regulating the chemotaxis activation of lymphocytes, with IL-8 acting as a chemotactic cytokine in response to inflammatory stimuli [14,15].
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