Interleukin-37: A Link Between COVID-19, Diabetes, and the Black Fungus

<p dir="ltr">The COVID-19 pandemic involved millions of people and diabetes was identified as an associated comorbidity. Initiation of systemic corticosteroids in patients suffering from severe COVID-19 was associated with lower mortality. A surge of invasive fungal infections of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sima Tokajian (3559616) (author)
Other Authors: Georgi Merhi (12877181) (author), Charbel Al Khoury (13167975) (author), Georges Nemer (295984) (author)
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:<p dir="ltr">The COVID-19 pandemic involved millions of people and diabetes was identified as an associated comorbidity. Initiation of systemic corticosteroids in patients suffering from severe COVID-19 was associated with lower mortality. A surge of invasive fungal infections of the maxillofacial region, namely mucormycosis, was linked to a deadly infection known as black fungus. Black fungus, diabetes, corticosteroids, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) all have a dysregulated immune response in common, which partly could also be attributed to interleukin 37 (IL-37). IL-37, a new cytokine of the IL-1 family, known for broadly reducing innate inflammation as well as acquired immune responses. The use of corticosteroids in diabetic COVID-19 patients, crowded hospitals, and lack of medical oxygen should be carefully considered to reduce COVID-associated secondary infections.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Frontiers in Microbiology<br>License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.788741" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.788741</a></p>