AUTHOR=Ntatsoulis Konstantinos , Karampitsakos Theodoros , Tsitoura Eliza , Stylianaki Elli-Anna , Matralis Alexios N. , Tzouvelekis Argyrios , Antoniou Katerina , Aidinis Vassilis TITLE=Commonalities Between ARDS, Pulmonary Fibrosis and COVID-19: The Potential of Autotaxin as a Therapeutic Target JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.687397 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2021.687397 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Severe COVID-19 is characterized by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like hyperinflammation and endothelial dysfunction, that can lead to respiratory and multi organ failure and death. Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) and pulmonary fibrosis confer an increased risk for severe disease, while a subset of COVID-19-related ARDS surviving patients will develop a fibroproliferative response that can persist post hospitalization. Autotaxin (ATX) is a secreted lysophospholipase D, largely responsible for the extracellular production of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a pleiotropic signaling lysophospholipid with multiple effects in pulmonary and immune cells. In this review, we discuss the similarities of COVID-19, ARDS and ILDs, and suggest ATX as a possible pathologic link and a potential common therapeutic target.