Potential Protective Factors for Allergic Rhinitis Patients Infected with COVID-19

TL;DR

This review explores how allergic rhinitis might protect against COVID-19 due to factors like low ACE2 receptor levels and complex cytokine networks.

Contribution

The paper highlights novel insights into how allergic rhinitis may act as a protective factor against COVID-19 infection.

Findings

Allergic rhinitis may have a protective effect against COVID-19 infection.

Low-level expression of ACE2 receptors in allergic rhinitis could contribute to this protection.

Steroid hormones and age are additional factors influencing the protective effect.

Abstract

At the beginning of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, airway allergic diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) were considered as risk factors for COVID-19, as they would aggravate symptoms. With further research, more and more literature has shown that airway allergic disease may not be a high-risk factor, but may be a protective factor for COVID-19 infection, which is closely related to its low-level expression of the ACE2 receptor and the complex cytokines network as underlying molecular regulatory mechanisms. In addition, steroid hormones and age factors could not be ignored. In this review, we have summarized some current evidence on the relationship between COVID-19 and allergic rhinitis to highlight the underlying mechanisms of COVID-19 infection and provide novel insights for its prevention and treatment. The key findings show that allergic rhinitis and its related molecular mechanisms may have a protective effect against COVID-19 infection.

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