Unraveling the thread of uncontrolled immune response in COVID-19 and STEMI: an emerging need for knowledge sharing

Rios-Navarro, Cesar; de Dios, Elena; Forteza, Maria J.; Bodi, Vicente

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 that first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019 has resulted in the devastating pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, creating an emerging need for knowledge sharing. Meanwhile, myocardial infarction is and will probably remain the foremost cause of death in the Western world throughout the coming decades. Severe deregulation of the immune system can unnecessarily expand the inflammatory response and participate in target and multiple organ failure, in infection but also in critical illness. Indeed, the course and fate of inflammatory cells observed in severe ST-elevation myocardial infarction (neutrophilia, monocytosis, and lymphopenia) almost perfectly mirror those recently reported in severe coronavirus disease 2019. A pleiotropic proinflammatory imbalance hampers adaptive immunity in favor of uncontrolled innate immunity and is associated with poorer structural and clinical outcomes. The goal of the present review is to gain greater insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this canonical activation and downregulation of the two arms of the immune response in both entities, to better understand their pathophysiology and to open the door to innovative therapeutic options. Knowledge sharing can pave the way for therapies with the potential to significantly reduce mortality in both infectious and noninfectious scenarios.