Highlights • Epidemiology of COVID-19 and life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 in human cells was explored. • SARS-CoV-2-induced cell-mediated immunity plays a critical role in COVID-19. • SARS-CoV-2 infection induces immune cell-mediated cytokine storms that promote pulmonary fibro-inflammation and organ failure. • This study highlights the immunotherapeutic effects of IL-15 on innate immunity to promote the clearance of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pulmonary inflammatory disease induced by a newly recognized coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected for the first time in the city of Wuhan in China and spread all over the world at the beginning of 2020. Several millions of people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, and almost 382,867 human deaths worldwide have been reported so far. Notably, there has been no specific, clinically approved vaccine or anti-viral treatment strategy for COVID-19. Herein, we review COVID-19, the viral replication, and its effect on promoting pulmonary fibro-inflammation via immune cell-mediated cytokine storms in humans. Several clinical trials are currently ongoing for anti-viral drugs, vaccines, and neutralizing antibodies against COVID-19. Viral clearance is the result of effective innate and adaptive immune responses. The pivotal role of interleukin (IL)-15 in viral clearance involves maintaining the balance of induced inflammatory cytokines and the homeostatic responses of natural killer and CD8 + T cells. This review presents supporting evidence of the impact of IL-15 immunotherapy on COVID-19.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Cytokine storm, pulmonary inflammation, immune cells, Interleukin-15,