Cytokine pathways and their signaling disorders can be the cause of onset and pathogenesis of many diseases such as autoimmune diseases and COVID-19 infection. Autoimmune patients may be at higher risk of developing infection due to the impaired immune responses, the use of immunosuppressive drugs, and damage to various organs. Increased secretion of inflammatory cytokines and intolerance of the patient's immune system to COVID-19 infection are the leading causes of hospitalization of these patients. The content used in this paper has been taken from English language articles (2005-2020) retrieved from the PubMed database and Google Scholar search engine using "COVID-19," "Autoimmune disease," "Therapeutic," "Pathogenesis," and "Pathway" keywords. The emergence of COVID-19 and its association with autoimmune disorders is a major challenge in the management of these diseases. The results showed that the use of corticosteroids in the treatment of autoimmune diseases can make diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 more challenging by preventing the fever. Due to the common pathogenesis of COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases, the use of autoimmune drugs as a possible treatment option could help control the virus. Key Points • Inflammatory cytokines play an essential role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 • ACE2 dysfunctions are related to the with COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases • The use autoimmune diseases drugs can be useful in treating COVID-19

No abstract

The Coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recently emerged as a pandemic and has endangered the lives of thousands of people worldwide. No specific treatment has been identified so far. However, the identification of diagnostic and prognostic factors in patients can be valuable for the application of preventive strategies. Increased platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), prothrombin time (PT), and D-dimer indices have been found in patients with increased inflammation and thrombosis and can lead to heart disease. Also, an increase in these indices is accompanied by worsening of the disease and impairment of the respiratory tract, which necessitates ventilation for the patients eventually. The evaluation of NLR, PLR, and coagulation parameters can be useful for identifying high-risk individuals who need to be intubated. Patient survival will improve by the timely identification and the use of appropriate treatment strategies.

Introduction: According to the non-specific presentation of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS), this disease is usually an under-diagnosed in clinical conditions. Objectives: The aim of the presence study was to evaluate the prevalence of renal artery stenosis (RAS) and its related risk factors in hypertensive patients undergoing coronary angiography. Patients and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, between March 2009 and October 2010, all of hypertensive patients candidate for diagnostic cardiac catheterization, underwent nonselective renal angiography before completion of their coronary angiography procedure. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect demographics, cardiac history, indications for cardiac catheterization and angiographic data. The degree of ARAS was estimated visually by skilled cardiologist. Narrowing greater than 50% of the arterial lumen considered as arterial stenosis. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 19, and by chi-square test and logistic regression model. Results: In overall 274 patients with mean age of 60.75 ± 10.92 years 108 (39.4%) were male and 166 (60.61%) were female. The prevalence of ARAS calculated 18.2%. According to the present study, heart failure and smoking were predictors of ARAS. However, old age, gender, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and family history of cardiovascular disease were not clinical predictors of significant ARAS in hypertensive patients, candidate for coronary angiography. Conclusion: According to present data, we suggest to consider renal artery angiography in combination with coronary artery angiography especially in hypertensive patients who are smoker or individuals who have heart failure.