COVID-19 and immune-mediated inflammatory rheumatic diseases

During the pandemics of COVID-19 associated with SARS-CoV-2, great attention in the medical community was devoted to the new clinical and basic issues of immune pathogenesis of human diseases. The detailed analysis of clinical signs and symptomes and immune disorders that occur in COVID-19 patients suggested that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with various extrapulmonary clinical manifestations and laboratory abnormalitites that are typical for immune-mediated rheumatic diseases. These data justified drug repurposing and the off-label administration of various medications specially designed for patients with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases for the treatment of COVID-19. The author reviews the prospects for administration of glucocorticoids, biologic agents, JAK inhibitors and other anti-cytokine agents in patients with COVID-19.

Key words

COVID-19, immune-mediated inflammatory rheumatic diseases, autoimmunity, glucocorticoids.