COVID-19 remains as a health concern all
around the world since World Health Organization
(WHO) declared it as a pandemic in March 2020. Severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2)
is the pathogen responsible for COVID-19. It belongs to
family Coronaviridae, human-to-human transmission
happens through droplets and aerosols.
As of December 2021 there were around 278.5 million
reported cases around the world, majority of which had
recovered. However there were some cases in which
progression of the disease became uncontrollable resulting
in severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome
(ARDS), multi-organ failure, even death.
In mild or moderate cases human innate and adaptive
immune responses are enough to fight the virus. Still in
some patients immune system runs wild, producing
enormous cytokines and other markers resulting in a
condition of hyperinflammation and hypercytokinemia
called the cytokine storm. Cytokine storm is regarded as
the main reason for disease progression to severe COVID19. It involves many pro-inflammatory markers, some of
the more notable ones are interleukins and tumor necrosis
factors. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is suggested to have a role
as an anti-inflammatory cytokine by a negative feedback
mechanism while tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF- α) as a
pro-inflammatory cytokine released by mainly monocytes
or macrophages. This review highlights cytokine storm as
well as IL-10 and TNF- α role in pathogenesis of severe
COVID-19
Keywords : COVID-19, Severe Case, IL-10, TNF- α, Cytokine Storm, Pathogenesis