[Colchicine: a potential therapeutic tool against COVID-19. Experience of 5 patients]

COVID-19 is a newly emerged disease that has become a global public health challenge. Due to a lack of knowledge about the virus, a significant number of potential targets for using a particular drug have been proposed. Five cases with a clinical history of biopolymers in the gluteal region that developed iatrogenic allogenosis (IA) are presented here. The 5 cases were put under colchicine treatment for IA crisis and had non-specific symptoms (headache, cough without dyspnea, and arthralgias) with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Their close contacts had mild to severe symptoms and three of them died. In the SARS-CoV-2 infection different inflammatory pathways are altered where colchicine reduces cytokine levels as well as the activation of macrophages, neutrophils, and the inflammasome. The possible mechanisms that colchicine may use to prevent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in patients with COVID-19 infection are also reviewed in this article.

Keywords: ARDS; COVID-19; Colchicine; Inflammasome; SARS-CoV-2.