Exploiting an early immunological window of opportunity in COVID-19
Authors: Clark D Russell
Journal: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (2021)

Substantial advances in COVID-19 therapeutics have been made over the past year. Highly effective vaccines now exist to reduce a vaccinated person's risk of developing symptomatic disease and progressing to require hospital admission. For patients who are being treated in hospital and require supplemental oxygen, dexamethasone improves survival,1Horby P Lim WS Emberson JR et al.Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19.N Engl J Med. 2021; 384: 693-704Crossref PubMed Scopus (6947) Google Scholar with an additional benefit from tocilizumab if systemic inflammation is present.2Abani O Abbas A Abbas F et al.Tocilizumab in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial.Lancet. 2021; 397: 1637-1645Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1218) Google Scholar However, there remains an unmet need for therapeutic interventions that inhibit disease progression in symptomatic people in the community and prevent hospital admission. Observational immunology data suggest this type of intervention should be possible. Clear differences exist in the inflammatory profiles of people admitted to hospital with COVID-19 compared with people in the community who do not progress to require hospital admission.3Thwaites RS Sanchez Sevilla Uruchurtu A Siggins MK et al.Inflammatory profiles across the spectrum of disease reveal a distinct role for GM-CSF in severe COVID-19.Sci Immunol. 2021; (published online March 10.)https://doi:10.1126/sciimmunol.abg9873Crossref PubMed Google Scholar The inflammatory response remains distinct even when outpatients are compared with hospitalised patients with the least severe disease (eg, requiring no respiratory support or only supplemental oxygen). These differences include markers of endothelial injury and thrombosis, interleukin (IL)-6, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and the inflammasome product IL-1b. These observations were made using samples obtained at similar timepoints after symptom onset (7 days for both outpatients and patients treated in hospital but not requiring respiratory support), suggesting that progression to requiring hospital admission is the result of a distinct inflammatory trajectory. Although downstream markers of organ injury (including D-dimer and EN-RAGE) increase with illness duration in people admitted to hospital, more proximal signalling mediators do not (eg, IL-6 and GM-CSF), suggesting the inflammatory trajectory is already programmed at the time of hospital admission. Considering the benefit of anti-inflammatory therapy initiated after this point in hospital, it is reasonable to hope earlier anti-inflammatory interventions will inhibit the inflammatory response before it results in lung injury requiring respiratory support in hospital. In the COLCORONA trial,4Tardif J-C Bouabdallaoui N L'Allier PL et al.Colchicine for community-treated patients with COVID-19 (COLCORONA): a phase 3, randomised, double-blinded, adaptive, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2021; (published online May 27.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00222-8Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (203) Google Scholar Jean-Claude Tardif and colleagues sought to exploit this putative window of opportunity with an impressive double-blind randomised controlled trial of colchicine for 4488 outpatients with symptomatic COVID-19 (not requiring PCR confirmation), recruited an average of 5·3 days after symptom onset. A composite endpoint of death or hospital admission was used. Colchicine is an inflammasome inhibitor and reduces caspase-1 activation and IL-1b secretion.5Robertson S Martínez GJ Payet CA et al.Colchicine therapy in acute coronary syndrome patients acts on caspase-1 to suppress NLRP3 inflammasome monocyte activation.Clin Sci. 2016; 130: 1237-1246Crossref PubMed Scopus (110) Google Scholar Circulating IL-1b is associated with disease severity, and analysis of lung tissue from people who died from COVID-19 confirms NLR-family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation.6Rodrigues TS de Sá KSG Ishimoto AY et al.Inflammasomes are activated in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with COVID-19 severity in patients.J Exp Med. 2021; 218e20201707Crossref PubMed Google Scholar In COLCORONA,4Tardif J-C Bouabdallaoui N L'Allier PL et al.Colchicine for community-treated patients with COVID-19 (COLCORONA): a phase 3, randomised, double-blinded, adaptive, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2021; (published online May 27.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00222-8Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (203) Google Scholar colchicine was dosed at 0·5 mg twice per day for 3 days then once per day for 27 days. This dosage is slightly lower than that used in the treatment of familial Mediterranean fever, an inherited autoinflammatory disease associated with pyrin inflammasome activation, in which 1–1·5 mg per day is recommended, escalated up to 3 mg per day in adults if needed.7Ozen S Demirkaya E Erer B et al.EULAR recommendations for the management of familial Mediterranean fever.Ann Rheum Dis. 2016; 75: 644-651Crossref PubMed Scopus (358) Google Scholar The investigators recruited people older than 40 years with additional high-risk criteria (≥70 years, BMI ≥30kg/m2Abani O Abbas A Abbas F et al.Tocilizumab in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial.Lancet. 2021; 397: 1637-1645Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1218) Google Scholar, diabetes, or other cardiorespiratory comorbidities). Although these criteria did select for people at increased risk of hospital admission, the median age in the treatment group was 53 years and 55.4% were women. Given that increasing age and male sex have the largest effect sizes for risk of mortality in people who are admitted to hospital,8Docherty AB Harrison EM Green CA et al.Features of 20 133 UK patients in hospital with covid-19 using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol: prospective observational cohort study.BMJ. 2020; 3691985Crossref PubMed Scopus (2080) Google Scholar the cohort studied in the COLCORONA trial4Tardif J-C Bouabdallaoui N L'Allier PL et al.Colchicine for community-treated patients with COVID-19 (COLCORONA): a phase 3, randomised, double-blinded, adaptive, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2021; (published online May 27.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00222-8Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (203) Google Scholar cannot be considered to be in the highest-risk category. The authors found no difference in the primary endpoint between the two treatment groups. However, in a subgroup analysis restricted to patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (4159 [92·7%] of 4488 participants) colchicine was associated with a reduction in hospital admission and death (4·6 vs 6·0%, odds ratio 0·75, 95% CI 0·57–0·99), with a number needed to treat of 70 (95% CI 36–1842). The COLCORONA trial4Tardif J-C Bouabdallaoui N L'Allier PL et al.Colchicine for community-treated patients with COVID-19 (COLCORONA): a phase 3, randomised, double-blinded, adaptive, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2021; (published online May 27.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00222-8Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (203) Google Scholar is a valuable addition to the clinical investigation of COVID-19. Is colchicine likely to become a first-line treatment for community management of early COVID-19? The answer is probably not. The effect size was small and the NNT large, although further investigation in a higher-risk cohort might be warranted, aiming to recruit patients closer to symptom onset and possibly dosing colchicine closer to the recommendations for familial Mediterranean fever. This trial does however add proof of principle of two important therapeutic concepts—progression of COVID-19 lung injury can be inhibited to prevent hospital admission and anti-inflammatory therapy can achieve this. The STOIC trial9Ramakrishnan S Nicolau Jr, DV Langford B et al.Inhaled budesonide in the treatment of early COVID-19 (STOIC): a phase 2, open-label, randomised controlled trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2021; (published online April 9.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00160-0Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (282) Google Scholar (167 outpatients with mild COVID-19) also suggested that early anti-inflammatory therapy might be beneficial; when compared with usual care, inhaled budesonide resulted in a reduction in the need for urgent medical care.9Ramakrishnan S Nicolau Jr, DV Langford B et al.Inhaled budesonide in the treatment of early COVID-19 (STOIC): a phase 2, open-label, randomised controlled trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2021; (published online April 9.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00160-0Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (282) Google Scholar Trials of anti-viral therapies in patients that were admitted to hospital have been disappointing, with neither intravenous remdesivir nor subcutaneous interferon (IFN) b-1a improving survival.10Pan H Peto R Henao-Restrepo AM et al.Repurposed antiviral drugs for Covid-19: interim WHO solidarity trial results.N Engl J Med. 2021; 384: 497-511Crossref PubMed Scopus (1671) Google Scholar However, the evidence for a defective IFN response leading to severe disease is compelling; neutralising auto-antibodies against IFN-a2 and IFN-ω are over-represented in severe COVID-19 (compared with asymptomatic infection or healthy controls)11Bastard P Rosen LB Zhang Q et al.Autoantibodies against type I IFNs in patients with life-threatening COVID-19.Science. 2020; 370eabd4570Crossref PubMed Scopus (1721) Google Scholar and variation in the IFNAR2 gene, associated with low expression, is associated with COVID-19 critical illness.12Pairo-Castineira E Clohisey S Klaric L et al.Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.Nature. 2021; 591: 92-98Crossref PubMed Scopus (799) Google Scholar Evaluation of IFN therapy in outpatients will be valuable, including in combination with anti-inflammatory therapies. There is observational evidence that an early window of opportunity exists in which to modify the inflammatory trajectory in COVID-19 with the aim of preventing hospital admission. Encouragingly, these findings are now supported by emerging evidence from outpatient clinical trials. As has been the case in trials with patients admitted to hospital, evaluation of multiple agents will probably be required before highly efficacious outpatient therapy is identified. COLCORONA represents the beginning of this important process. I declare no competing interests. Colchicine for community-treated patients with COVID-19 (COLCORONA): a phase 3, randomised, double-blinded, adaptive, placebo-controlled, multicentre trialIn community-treated patients including those without a mandatory diagnostic test, the effect of colchicine on COVID-19-related clinical events was not statistically significant. Among patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19, colchicine led to a lower rate of the composite of death or hospital admission than placebo. Given the absence of orally administered therapies to prevent COVID-19 complications in community-treated patients and the benefit of colchicine in patients with PCR-proven COVID-19, this safe and inexpensive anti-inflammatory agent could be considered for use in those at risk of complications. Full-Text PDF Open Access