Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2021; 27(45): 7855-7858
Published online Dec 7, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i45.7855
SARS-CoV-2 infection in people with pre-existing liver disease: Further research is warranted
Henu Kumar Verma, LVKS Bhaskar
Henu Kumar Verma, Department of Immunopathology, Institute of lungs Biology and Disease, Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Neuherberg 85764, Munich, Germany
LVKS Bhaskar, Zoology, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur 495001, Chhattisgarh, India
Author contributions: Verma HK and Bhaskar LVKS wrote and revised the letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Henu Kumar Verma, PhD, Research Scientist, Department of Immunopathology, Institute of lungs Biology and Disease, Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Helmholtz Zentrum, Neuherberg 85764, Munich, Germany. henu.verma@yahoo.com
Received: May 4, 2021
Peer-review started: May 4, 2021
First decision: June 12, 2021
Revised: June 13, 2021
Accepted: September 8, 2021
Article in press: September 8, 2021
Published online: December 7, 2021
Processing time: 212 Days and 22.6 Hours
Abstract

Patients with severe liver disease who have been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (coronavirus disease 2019) frequently develop acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure, with a high mortality rate, as a result of the hyper-proinflammatory state known as the cytokine storm. Clinicians must recognize cytokine storms earlier to avoid intensive care admission and multi-organ damage, a critical life-threatening condition with prognostic and therapeutic implications

Keywords: Cytokine storm; Liver disease; Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; Therapeutics; Inflammatory markers

Core Tip: Understanding the hepatic consequences of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and its molecular mechanism has greatly evolved. Evidence suggests that coronavirus disease 2019 fatalities are primarily due to cytokine storm and abnormal immune function. Throughout the infection, interleukin-6, nuclear factor kappa B, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha are inflammatory cytokines released by SARS-CoV-2-infected macrophages and monocytes that cause acute liver injury. Anti-viral treatment with anti-inflammatory receptors, such as monoclonal antibodies, can be used to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.