Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Immunopathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment

SARS-CoV-2 is a member of the coronaviruses family that causes the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China in late 2019 which has exploded to a global pandemic. The reference genome of the SARS-CoV-2 is considered to be very closely related to SARS-CoV and the virus uses the ACE-2 receptor for cellular entry similar to SARS-CoV. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, and respiratory symptoms. Although gastrointestinal involvements are also presented in some patients. Reduced number and functional exhaustion of lymphocytes and increased inflammatory responses of leukocytes are the most immunological characteristics of the disease. If the infection was not eliminated by the proper and strong immune responses, the disease enters the severe stage when cytokine storm and elevated inflammatory responses induced pulmonary fibrosis, shortness of breath, reduced O2 saturation, and systemic injuries resulted in patient’s death. There are no specific therapies, however, several agents such as Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, and convalescent plasma are being used for COVID-19 treatment. In the current study, we summarized recent findings on COVID-19 pathogenesis and drug therapy.