A REVIEW: TOCILIZUMAB, A RAY OF HOPE IN COVID-19 PNEUMONIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ijms.2022.v10i3.42620Keywords:
COVID-19, Cytokine release syndrome, Coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia, TocilizumabAbstract
With the increased number of cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) all over the world which was discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China, there are more positive rates and deaths encountered during the second wave due to this dreadful infection mainly focusing on youngsters diagnosed with COVID-pneumonia. Amidst this devastating situation, there is ray of hope by the emerging clinical trials on Tocilizumab, a potent interleukin-6 (Il-6) inhibitor which likely reduces the mortality of those patients having severe COVID-19 pneumonia as a result of Cytokine Release Syndrome. This syndrome is triggered by burst of inflammatory markers secondary to COVID-19 which is characterized by decrease in T-cells and Natural Killer cells, an increase in IL-6, fever, organ and tissue dysfunction, and an abnormal coagulation function eventually leading to death.
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