Colchicine and SARS-CoV-2 prospects for clinical management of the
inflammatory state
Abstract
At date, research is moving for a direct SARS-CoV-2 antiviral, which
will be, probably, the ideal solution to defeat the virus. In the
meantime, evidences have shown that effective improvements for health
status of infected patients can be found in the decrease or stop of the
hyper inflammatory state. Experts have divided the SARS-CoV-2 infection
in three phases. In the last one, phase 3, the most severe, the immune
system goes an overdrive status and, as consequence, it launches a
large-scale assault versus all the tissues. This phenomenon is known as
“cytokine storm” and it can lead to a damage of organs and, in some
cases to death. Several studies showed that blocking the cytokine storm
or acting advance with a prevention of the phenomenon, can be effective;
studies are ongoing to evaluate agents that can be able to reduce this
hyperinflammatory state, as, for example, IL-6 or IL-1 inhibitors.
However, other drugs that are able to block the cytokine cascade can
also be considered. In this article is reported the scientific and
molecular motivation related to the use of colchicine as monotherapy or
in association in all three phases of infection by SARS-CoV-2 modulating
the inflammatory state. Colchicine can be considered safe and effective
for the treatment and prevention of Cytokine Storm in patients affected
by SARS-CoV-2 infection, in particular as a remedy added to other
therapeutical agents. In fact, colchicine, probably, provides a bigger
benefit to all current agents and its safety profile is superior to the
one provided by other drugs, such as corticosteroids and
immunosuppressive drugs.