Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2022 Apr 27;9(1):e000871. doi: 10.1136/bmjgast-2022-000871

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

PMC Copyright notice

Potential mechanism for cytokine storm and immune hyper-response in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. In individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, the macrophages become activated; these in turn activate T-cells, additional macrophages, and neutrophils―all of which release cytokines, including TNF-α. Bifidobacterium, when present in sufficient numbers, can bind to TNF-α and prevent the subsequent cytokine storm. Therefore, patients with a bifidobacterial dysbiosis characterised by low levels of Bifidobacterium lack this line of defense, which may lead to a cytokine storm.