Research progress on the mechanism of multiple organ dysfunction in patients with COVID-19.

The pathogen of COVID-19 is 2019-nCoV, which belongs to the beta coronavirus. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the receptor of 2019-nCoV as the same of SARS-CoV. Most of the severe patients were the elderly with underlying diseases, which may be related to the decrease in the number of naive T cells. In addition to pulmonary symptoms, COVID-19 can also cause multiple organ dysfunction and even multiple organ failure (liver, nervous system, heart, kidney, etc.). Pathogenic mechanisms such as direct virus invasion, cytokine storm, endothelial cells damage, and down-regulation of ACE2 may play important roles in the severity of the disease.Copyright © 2021 Chinese Medical Association