ABSTRACT
Late in 2019, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became pandemic. The disease has associated with severe inflammatory symptoms of the respiratory epithelial cells and the dysfunction of several organs of the body. Studies have shown that theophylline plays an important role in acute inflammation and has a synergistic effect on low therapeutic concentrations with corticosteroid drugs and amplifies anti-inflammatory effect of corticosteroids by activating histone deacetylase-2 (HDAC2), which decreases corticosteroid resistance by increasing the affinity of corticosteroid receptors to corticosteroid drugs. Therefore, theophylline could be considered as an adjunctive anti-inflammatory drug in combination with corticosteroids in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 by the Author(s).