Possible Benefits of Paclitaxel Therapy for COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019 and soon became the most serious global health challenge due to the high rate of human-to-human transmission. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a single-stranded RNA virus and belongs to the large Coronaviridae family [1]. The pathogenesis of the COVID-19 still remains poorly understood. Cytokine storm, a hyper-inflammatory state, is considered one of the most important causes of respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death in patients with COVID-19. Clinical studies have reported that there is a strong association between the level of inflammatory cytokines and the severity of the COVID-19 [2]. The prognosis of the COVID-19 is good in most patients;however, in a small number of patients, it develops into ARDS and subsequently, death within a short time [1]. Given that there is no specific antiviral drug for the treatment of the disease, suppression of cytokine storms using FDA-approved drugs with multiple mechanisms of action may reduce the COVID-19-related mortality.