The possible of immunotherapy for COVID-19: A systematic review
Main result
- 7 articles selected.
- Immunotherapy attempts for COVID-19 until now include: polyclonal antibodies by plasma therapy, polypeptide hormone for T cell maturation, immunoglobulins, ACE2 immunoadhesin and monoclonal antibody against the interleukin-6.
- Treatments tested for SARS-CoV and promising for SARS-CoV-2: viral-vectors, nanoparticles, inactivated whole virus and DNA as vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.
- Plasma therapy and immunoglobulins could improve clinical outcomes.
- Vaccines and ACE2 immunoadhesin have not been tested yet.
- Monoclonal antibody has performed only for SARS. Not tested for COVID-19.
Takeaways
- Among immunotherapy approaches to block virus attachment or entry, monoclonal antibodies are preferred because of their specificity, purity, low risk of contamination by blood-borne pathogens and safety compared to serum therapy and intravenous immunoglobulin preparations.
- Promising results of monoclonal antibodies in SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are encouraging for SARS-CoV-2.
- Because of the role of inflammation in disease severity, an interesting target for immunotherapy could be cytokines; specifically IL-6.
Strength of evidence Weak
- No immunotherapy treatment tested in the case of COVID-19, only extrapolations from SARS and MERS results.
- Low number of articles selected.
Objectives
Method
- Sources: PubMed, Web of Science (ISI), Scopus databases.
- Inclusion criteria: Immunotherapy treatment for SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, or MERS-CoV.
- Evaluated by two reviewers independently.
- No meta-analysis possible due to small number of studies.
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