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Etoposide as Salvage Therapy for Cytokine Storm Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019

Maulin Patel1, Eduardo Dominguez1, Daniel Sacher1

  • 1Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Chest
|September 15, 2020
PubMed

Insights

A severe cytokine storm in COVID-19, resistant to other treatments, responded to etoposide. This suggests etoposide may be a valuable salvage therapy for critical COVID-19 cases.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Pharmacology
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents a significant health challenge due to limited effective treatments.
  • Therapeutic approaches often focus on managing the overactive immune response, known as cytokine storm, using immunomodulators and anti-cytokine agents.

Observation:

  • A unique case of severe COVID-19 with a cytokine storm is presented.
  • This patient's condition was resistant to multiple established anti-cytokine therapies.

Findings:

  • The severe cytokine storm in this COVID-19 patient eventually responded to etoposide treatment.
  • This represents the first reported instance of etoposide use for cytokine storm in COVID-19.

Implications:

  • Etoposide may serve as a crucial salvage therapy option for patients experiencing refractory cytokine storm in COVID-19.
  • Further research into etoposide's efficacy and safety in treating severe COVID-19 cytokine storms is warranted.
Keywords:
COVID-19etoposide

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