Immune Computation and COVID-19 Mortality: A Rationale for IVIg

Crit Rev Immunol. 2020;40(3):195-203. doi: 10.1615/CritRevImmunol.2020034784.

Abstract

COVID-19 infection tends to be more lethal in older persons than in the young; death results from an overactive inflammatory response, leading to cytokine storm and organ failure. Here we describe immune regulation of the inflammatory response phenotype as emerging from a process that is analogous to machine-learning algorithms used in computers. We briefly describe some strategic similarities between immune learning and computer machine learning. We reason that a balanced response to COVID-19 infection might be induced by treating the elderly patient with a wellness repertoire of antibodies obtained from healthy young people. We propose that a beneficial training set of such antibodies might be administered in the form of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg).

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Algorithms
  • COVID-19 / mortality
  • COVID-19 / pathology
  • COVID-19 / therapy*
  • COVID-19 Serotherapy
  • Cytokine Release Syndrome / mortality
  • Cytokine Release Syndrome / therapy
  • Humans
  • Immunization, Passive / methods
  • Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / therapeutic use*
  • Inflammation / pathology
  • Inflammation / therapy
  • Machine Learning
  • SARS-CoV-2 / immunology*

Substances

  • Immunoglobulins, Intravenous