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Familial Mediterranean Fever and COVID-19: Friends or Foes?
Stella, Alessandro; Lamkanfi, Mohamed; Portincasa, Piero.
  • Stella A; Department of Human Oncology and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
  • Lamkanfi M; Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
  • Portincasa P; Division of Internal Medicine, Clinica Medica "A Murri", Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
Front Immunol ; 11: 574593, 2020.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-846257
ABSTRACT
Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) and COVID-19 show a remarkable overlap of clinical symptoms and similar laboratory findings. Both are characterized by fever, abdominal/chest pain, elevation of C-reactive protein, and leukocytosis. In addition, colchicine and IL-1 inhibitors treatments that are effective in controlling inflammation in FMF patients have recently been proposed for off-label use in COVID-19 patients. Thus, FMF may resemble a milder recapitulation of the cytokine storm that is a hallmark of COVID-19 patients progressing to severe disease. We analyzed the sequence of the MEFV-encoded Pyrin protein - whose mutations cause FMF- in mammals, bats and pangolin. Intriguingly, although Pyrin is extremely conserved in species that are considered either a reservoir or intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2, some of the most common FMF-causing variants in humans are present as wildtype residues in these species. We propose that in humans, Pyrin may have evolved to fight highly pathogenic infections.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Familial Mediterranean Fever / Pneumonia, Viral / Colchicine / Coronavirus Infections / Pandemics / Pyrin / Betacoronavirus / Mutation Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study Topics: Variants Limits: Animals / Humans Language: English Journal: Front Immunol Year: 2020 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Fimmu.2020.574593

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Familial Mediterranean Fever / Pneumonia, Viral / Colchicine / Coronavirus Infections / Pandemics / Pyrin / Betacoronavirus / Mutation Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study Topics: Variants Limits: Animals / Humans Language: English Journal: Front Immunol Year: 2020 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Fimmu.2020.574593