Immune-Based Therapy for COVID-19.

Esmaeilzadeh, Abdolreza; Jafari, Davood; Tahmasebi, Safa; Elahi, Reza; Khosh, Elnaz

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel zoonotic virus identified as the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has crossed species and infected humans. In order to develop new insights on the immune-based treatments against this disease, it is vital to understand the immunopathology of the COVID-19, implications of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, and immune dysfunction in response to SARS-CoV-2. There is no approved drug for the treatment of COVID-19. It is, thus, promising to design immune-based treatments that inhibit the infectious mechanism of the virus, improve the inadequate immune response, or regulate the hyperactivated immune response in severely ill patients. According to the antiviral immune response against the virus, antibody-based immunotherapies of COVID-19 include injection of convalescent plasma from recovered patients, high-dose intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), monoclonal antibodies, and polyclonal antibodies. Also, cell-based treatment, vaccine-based approaches, cytokine-based immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, JAK inhibitors, decoy receptors, and immunosuppressive drugs are discussed in this chapter.