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THE ROLE OF HMGB1 IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO SARS-COV- 2 INFECTION: FROM PATHOGENESIS TOWARDS A NEW POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGET

MUHAMMAD TOREQUL ISLAM 1#, MUNNAF HOSSEN 2, ZAHRAA KAMAZ 3, ALIREZA ZALI 4,
MANOJ KUMAR 5, ANCA OANA DOCEA 6#, ANDREEA LETIȚIA ARSENE 7, DANIELA CĂLINA 8*, JAVAD SHARIFI-RAD 9#

1Department of Pharmacy, Life Science Faculty, “Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman” Science and Technology University, Gopalganj (Dhaka) 8100, Bangladesh
2Department of Immunology, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, China
3Nursing School, University of Kerbala, Iraq
4Functional Neurosurgery Research Center, Shohada Tajrish Neurosurgical Comprehensive Center of Excellence, “Shahid Beheshti” University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5Chemical and Biochemical Processing Division, ICAR – Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Mumbai400019, India
6Department of Toxicology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania
7Department of General and Pharmaceutical Microbiology,, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020956,
Bucharest, Romania
8Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349, Craiova, Romania 9Phytochemistry Research Center, “Shahid Beheshti” University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus is the most important emerging pathogen since it was discovered in late 2019, infecting millions of people worldwide. The human body's defence against this new viral respiratory infection depends on the immune response of each person with a crucial impact on the appearance of clinical signs. Therefore, it is important to identify endogenous molecules with a fundamental role in severe pulmonary inflammation associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The impact of high mobility group proteins (HMGBs) in the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was recently proposed. There is also recent evidence that HMGBs, particularly HMGB1–2, play important roles in the replication of viral genomes. Moreover, HMGB1–4 proteins appear to be associated with inflammatory processes in the pathogenesis of many other viral diseases and disorders, including lung disease, ischemiareperfusion-injury, sepsis, coagulopathy, trauma, neurological disorders, and cancer. This article presents the possible roles of HMGB1 in SARS-CoV-2 replication and its involvement in the pathogenesis of clinical severe pulmonary manifestations; these data can be useful in further virologic studies and the finding of new potential therapeutic targets in COVID-19.