Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 6, 2020; 8(23): 5835-5843
Published online Dec 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i23.5835
Understanding the immunopathogenesis of COVID-19: Its implication for therapeutic strategy
Yukihiro Shimizu
Yukihiro Shimizu, Gastroenterology Center, Nanto Municipal Hospital, Nanto 932-0211, Toyama, Japan
Author contributions: Yukihiro Shimizu alone designed and wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yukihiro Shimizu, MD, PhD, Director, Doctor, Gastroenterology Center, Nanto Municipal Hospital, 938 Inami, Nanto 932-0211, Toyama, Japan. rsf14240@nifty.com
Received: May 15, 2020
Peer-review started: May 15, 2020
First decision: November 3, 2020
Revised: November 12, 2020
Accepted: November 21, 2020
Article in press: November 21, 2020
Published online: December 6, 2020
Processing time: 203 Days and 1.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the core therapeutic strategy should be aimed at the eradication of the virus. Unfortunately, there have been no antiviral drugs proven to be effective for this viral infection. The pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 is formed by the interaction between the viral infection and the immune response to the virus, and the various clinical features observed in patients with COVID-19 could be due to differences in host immune responses. Moreover, therapeutic strategies should be based on both viral kinetics and the immune response. This editorial summarizes current understanding about immune responses in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and provides clues to therapeutic strategies based on this information.