Autoantibodies and autoimmune disorders in SARS-CoV-2 infection: pathogenicity and immune regulation.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease associated with the respiratory system caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The aim of this review article is to establish an understanding about the relationship between autoimmune conditions and COVID-19 infections. Although majority of the population have been protected with vaccines against this virus, there is yet a successful curative medication for this disease. The use of autoimmune medications has been widely considered to control the infection, thus postulating possible relationships between COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases. Several studies have suggested the correlation between autoantibodies detected in patients and the severity of the COVID-19 disease. Studies have indicated that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can disrupt the self-tolerance mechanism of the immune system, thus triggering autoimmune conditions. This review discusses the current scenario and future prospects of promising therapeutic strategies that may be employed to regulate such autoimmune conditions.

Plant-Based Support of Respiratory Health during Viral Outbreaks.

Respiratory viruses are linked to major epidemic events that have plagued humans through recorded history and possibly much earlier, ranging from common colds, influenza, and coronavirus infections to measles. However, difficulty in developing effective pharmaceutical solutions to treat infected individuals has hindered efforts to manage and minimize respiratory viral outbreaks and the associated mortality. Here we highlight a series of botanical interventions with different and often overlapping putative mechanisms of action to support the respiratory system, for which the bioactive pharmacophore was suggested and the initial structure-activity relationships have been explored (Bupleurum spp., Glycyrrhiza spp., Andrographis spp.), have been proposed with uncertainty (Echinacea spp., Zingiber spp., Verbascum spp., Marrubium spp.), or remained to be elucidated (Sambucus spp., Urtica spp.). Investigating these metabolites and their botanical sources holds potential to uncover new mediators of the respiratory health outcomes as well as molecular targets for future break-through therapeutic interventions targeting respiratory viral outbreaks.