USE OF COLCHICINE TO COUNTERACT THE STRONG HYPERINFLAMMATORY STATE INDUCED BY SARS-COV-2

Abstract

Research in present time has been focusing on finding a specific SARS-CoV-2 vaccine or antiviral, which will probably be the therapeutic goal in the fight against the virus. In the meantime, scientific evidence shows that it is possible to have effective clinical improvements of infected patients in reducing the strong hyperinflammatory state. The SARS-CoV-2 infection is divided into three stages. The most serious phase is the third one where the immune system overdrives and launches an intense attack against itself. This is called "cytokine storm" and leads to tissue damage and often to death. Stopping the cytokine storm early is definitely an effective move; since March several studies have been evaluating how this can be an important pharmacological aspect. Blocking IL-6 or IL-1 inhibitors, for example, is already known to have wide efficacy, but they are not alone in being able to block the cascade of cytokines. This is a clinical pharmacology article and demonstrates how the use of colchicine, monotherapy or in combination in all three phases of SARS-CoV-2, controls inflammation and prevents patient death. Colchicine is safe and effective for treating SARS-CoV-2 patients in preventing inflammation and lung collapse and is certainly useful as an added remedy for other drugs. The advantage is certainly its safety profile much higher than that provided by other drugs, such as corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs. Note is the story of hydroxychloroquine: use has been banned due to its high toxicity. Peer Review History: Received 25 May 2020; Revised 10 June; Accepted 6 July, Available online 15 July 2020 UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Name: Dr. Jennifer Audu-Peter Affiliation: University of Jos, Nigeria E-mail: drambia@yahoo.com Name: Robert Tungadi Affiliation: State University of Gorontalo, Indonesia E-mail: rtungadi@yahoo.com Comments of reviewer(s):