A group from University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus has reported that IL-1R7 antibody would be effective in COVID-19 to suppress cytokine storms.
https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(21)00416-6/fulltext
Excessive inflammation observed in macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) results in severe diseases with high mortality. The cytokine storms observed in COVID-19 patients would be a typical example similar to MAS.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18), a proinflammatory cytokine belonging to the IL-1 family, is elevated in both MAS and COVID-19 patients, and its level is known to correlate with the severity of COVID-19 symptoms
IL-18 binds its specific receptor IL-1 Receptor 5 (IL-1R5, also known as IL-18 Receptor alpha chain), leading to the recruitment of the co-receptor, IL-1 Receptor 7 (IL-1R7, also known as IL-18 Receptor beta chain).
Authors found that the anti-IL-1R7 antibody significantly suppressed IL-18-mediated NFκB activation, IL-18-stimulated IFNγ production, and IL-6 production in human cell lines.
