Generic placeholder image

Anti-Inflammatory & Anti-Allergy Agents in Medicinal Chemistry

Author(s): Wanessa Maria dos Santos and Alexandre Paula Rogerio*

DOI: 10.2174/1871523022666230912142540

DownloadDownload PDF Flyer Cite As
Glucocorticoids, COVID-19 and Cryptococcosis

Page: [67 - 70] Pages: 4

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Explore Articles
About Journal
For Authors
For Editors
For Reviewers

Abstract

Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii pneumonitis could persist asymptomatically for indefinite periods, resolve, or progress to symptomatic dissemination, mainly in immunocompromised individuals (e.g., treated with corticosteroids). The symptoms of COVID-19 may range from a self-limiting illness with general symptoms, such as fever, to more severe complications, such as pneumonitis. The glucocorticoids emerged as potential for treatment of COVID-19, mainly those patients who required ventilator therapy. However, although treatment with glucocorticoids has shown benefits in patients with COVID-19, they can be dangerous due to increased risk of coinfections and superinfections caused by opportunistic pathogens such as Cryptococcus ssp. Some patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia treated with glucocorticoids developed cryptococcal infection and died. Therefore, immunomodulatory therapy could increase the susceptibility to acute infection or reactivation of Cryptococcus ssp in COVID-19 patients, and this could be complicated once pulmonary cryptococcosis has symptoms similar to COVID-19 becomes difficult to distinguish between the two disease states and treatment.

Keywords: Glucocorticoids, COVID-19, cryptococcosis, co-infections, susceptibility, superinfectious.

[1]
Rathore, S.S.; Sathiyamoorthy, J.; Lalitha, C.; Ramakrishnan, J. A holistic review on Cryptococcus neoformans. Microb. Pathog., 2022, 166, 105521.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2022.105521] [PMID: 35436563]
[2]
Setianingrum, F.; Rautemaa-Richardson, R.; Denning, D.W. Pulmonary cryptococcosis: A review of pathobiology and clinical aspects. Med. Mycol., 2019, 57(2), 133-150.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mmy/myy086] [PMID: 30329097]
[3]
Alegre-González, D.; Herrera, S.; Bernal, J.; Soriano, A.; Bodro, M. Disseminated Cryptococcus neoformans infection associated to COVID-19. Med. Mycol. Case Rep., 2021, 34, 35-37.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mmcr.2021.10.001] [PMID: 34703755]
[4]
Taylor-Smith, LM Cryptococcus-Epithelial Interactions. J. Fungi., 2017, 3(4), 53.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof3040053]
[5]
Bhatt, K; Agolli, A; Patel, MH High mortality co-infections of COVID-19 patients: Mucormycosis and other fungal infections. Discoveries., 2021, 9(1), e126.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.15190/d.2021.5]
[6]
Gil, Y; Gil, YD; Markou, T The emergence of cryptococcemia in COVID-19 infection: A case report. Cureus., 2021, 13(11), e19761.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.19761]
[7]
Amin, A; Vartanian, A; Poladian, N Root causes of fungal coinfections in COVID-19 infected patients. Infect. Dis. Rep., 2021, 13(4), 1018-1035.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/idr13040093]
[8]
Mallah, SI.; Ghorab, OK.; Al-Salmi, S COVID-19: Breaking down a global health crisis. Ann. Clin. Microbiol. Antimicrob., 2021, 20(1), 35.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12941-021-00438-7]
[9]
Pradhan, S.; Sharma, S.; Kumar, A.; Singh, P. Favourable outcome of severe COVID-19 patients in hyperinflammatory phase with high dose dexamethasone pulse therapy: A series of 10 cases. J. Family Med. Prim. Care, 2021, 10(12), 4598-4604.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_963_21] [PMID: 35280644]
[10]
Horby, P.; Lim, W.S.; Emberson, J.R.; Mafham, M.; Bell, J.L.; Linsell, L.; Staplin, N.; Brightling, C.; Ustianowski, A.; Elmahi, E.; Prudon, B.; Green, C.; Felton, T.; Chadwick, D.; Rege, K.; Fegan, C.; Chappell, L.C.; Faust, S.N.; Jaki, T.; Jeffery, K.; Montgomery, A.; Rowan, K.; Juszczak, E.; Baillie, J.K.; Haynes, R.; Landray, M.J. Dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with Covid-19. N. Engl. J. Med., 2021, 384(8), 693-704.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2021436] [PMID: 32678530]
[11]
Gustine, J.N.; Jones, D. Immunopathology of hyperinflammation in COVID-19. Am. J. Pathol., 2021, 191(1), 4-17.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2020.08.009] [PMID: 32919977]
[12]
Huet, T.; Beaussier, H.; Voisin, O.; Jouveshomme, S.; Dauriat, G.; Lazareth, I.; Sacco, E.; Naccache, J.M.; Bézie, Y.; Laplanche, S.; Le Berre, A.; Le Pavec, J.; Salmeron, S.; Emmerich, J.; Mourad, J.J.; Chatellier, G.; Hayem, G. Anakinra for severe forms of COVID-19: A cohort study. Lancet Rheumatol., 2020, 2(7), e393-e400.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30164-8] [PMID: 32835245]
[13]
Liao, M.; Liu, Y.; Yuan, J.; Wen, Y.; Xu, G.; Zhao, J.; Cheng, L.; Li, J.; Wang, X.; Wang, F.; Liu, L.; Amit, I.; Zhang, S.; Zhang, Z. Single-cell landscape of bronchoalveolar immune cells in patients with COVID-19. Nat. Med., 2020, 26(6), 842-844.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0901-9] [PMID: 32398875]
[14]
Zhang, B; Zhou, X; Qiu, Y Clinical characteristics of 82 cases of death from COVID-19. PLoS One., 2020, 15(7), e0235458.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235458]
[15]
Meng, Q.F.; Tai, W.; Tian, M.; Zhuang, X.; Pan, Y.; Lai, J.; Xu, Y.; Xu, Z.; Li, M.; Zhao, G.; Yu, G.T.; Yu, G.; Chen, R.; Jin, N.; Li, X.; Cheng, G.; Chen, X.; Rao, L. Inhalation delivery of dexamethasone with iSEND nanoparticles attenuates the COVID-19 cytokine storm in mice and nonhuman primates. Sci. Adv., 2023, 9(24), eadg3277.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adg3277] [PMID: 37315135]
[16]
Cascella, M.; Rajnik, M.; Aleem, A.; Dulebohn, S.C.; Di Napoli, R. Features, evaluation, and treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19). In:StatPearls; StatPearls Publishing: Treasure Island, FL, 2023.
[17]
White, P.L.; Dhillon, R.; Cordey, A.; Hughes, H.; Faggian, F.; Soni, S.; Pandey, M.; Whitaker, H.; May, A.; Morgan, M.; Wise, M.P.; Healy, B.; Blyth, I.; Price, J.S.; Vale, L.; Posso, R.; Kronda, J.; Blackwood, A.; Rafferty, H.; Moffitt, A.; Tsitsopoulou, A.; Gaur, S.; Holmes, T.; Backx, M. A national strategy to diagnose coronavirus disease 2019–associated invasive fungal disease in the intensive care unit. Clin. Infect. Dis., 2021, 73(7), e1634-e1644.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1298] [PMID: 32860682]
[18]
Mehta, S; Pandey, A. Rhino-orbital mucormycosis associated with COVID-19. Cureus., 2020, 12(9), e10726.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10726]
[19]
Dellière, S.; Dudoignon, E.; Fodil, S.; Voicu, S.; Collet, M.; Oillic, P.A.; Salmona, M.; Dépret, F.; Ghelfenstein-Ferreira, T.; Plaud, B.; Chousterman, B.; Bretagne, S.; Azoulay, E.; Mebazaa, A.; Megarbane, B.; Alanio, A. Risk factors associated with COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis in ICU patients: A French multicentric retrospective cohort. Clin. Microbiol. Infect., 2021, 27(5), 790.e1-790.e5.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2020.12.005] [PMID: 33316401]
[20]
Villanueva-Lozano, H.; Treviño-Rangel, R.J.; González, G.M.; Ramírez-Elizondo, M.T.; Lara-Medrano, R.; Aleman-Bocanegra, M.C.; Guajardo-Lara, C.E.; Gaona-Chávez, N.; Castilleja-Leal, F.; Torre-Amione, G.; Martínez-Reséndez, M.F. Outbreak of Candida auris infection in a COVID-19 hospital in Mexico. Clin. Microbiol. Infect., 2021, 27(5), 813-816.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2020.12.030] [PMID: 33429028]
[21]
Antinori, S.; Bonazzetti, C.; Gubertini, G.; Capetti, A.; Pagani, C.; Morena, V.; Rimoldi, S.; Galimberti, L.; Sarzi-Puttini, P.; Ridolfo, A.L. Tocilizumab for cytokine storm syndrome in COVID-19 pneumonia: An increased risk for candidemia? Autoimmun. Rev., 2020, 19(7), 102564.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2020.102564] [PMID: 32376396]
[22]
Nobrega de Almeida, J., Jr; Moreno, L.; Francisco, E.C.; Noronha Marques, G.; Mendes, A.V.; Barberino, M.G.; Colombo, A.L. Trichosporon asahii superinfections in critically ill COVID‐19 patients overexposed to antimicrobials and corticosteroids. Mycoses., 2021, 64(8), 817-822.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/myc.13333] [PMID: 34091966]
[23]
Tay, M.Z.; Poh, C.M.; Rénia, L.; MacAry, P.A.; Ng, L.F.P. The trinity of COVID-19: Immunity, inflammation and intervention. Nat. Rev. Immunol., 2020, 20(6), 363-374.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41577-020-0311-8] [PMID: 32346093]
[24]
Deepa, MJ; Megharaj, C; Patil, S; Rani, PK Cryptococcus laurentii endogenous endophthalmitis post COVID-19 infection. BMJ Case Rep., 2022, 15(5), e246637.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2021-246637 ]