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.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Cytokine storm, Innate immunity, FMF disease, pyrin, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, Inflammation, Mutation, Human, variant, C-reactive protein, Laboratory, Protein, infections, humans, Fever, Patient, Pain, bat, Colchicine, inhibitor, IL-1, COVID-19 patients, Leukocytosis, severe disease, COVID-19 patient, Familial, overlap, clinical symptom, residue, sequence, wildtype, hallmark, mammals, off-label, highly pathogenic, Host, effective, analyzed, conserved, addition, characterized, the cytokine storm, 【제목키워드】 Familial, Friend,