The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected people around the world. Typically, COVID-19 originates in the lung, but lately it can extend to other organs and lead to tissue injury and multiorgan failure in severe patients, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), kidney failure and sepsis or systemic inflammation. Given that COVID-19 has been detected in a range of other organs, the COVID-19-associated disease is an alert of aberrant activation of host immune response which drives un-controlled inflammation that affects multiple organs. Complement is a vital component of innate immunity where it forms the first line of defense against potentially harmful microbes, but its role in COVID-19 is still not clear. Notably, the abnormal activation and continuous deposits of complement components were identified in the pre-clinical samples from COVID-19 patients, which have been confirmed in animal models. Recent evidence has revealed that the administration of complement inhibitors leads to relieve inflammatory response in ARDS. Hence, we speculate that the targeting complement system could be a potential treatment option for organ damage in COVID-19 patients.

当前爆发的 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 已影响到世界各地的人们。通常，COVID-19 起源于肺部，但最近它可以扩展到其他器官，并导致重症患者出现组织损伤和多器官衰竭，例如急性呼吸窘迫综合征 (ARDS)、肾衰竭和败血症或全身炎症。鉴于已在一系列其他器官中检测到 COVID-19，因此与 COVID-19 相关的疾病是宿主免疫反应异常激活的警报，该反应会导致影响多个器官的不受控制的炎症。补体是先天免疫的重要组成部分，是抵御潜在有害微生物的第一道防线，但其在 COVID-19 中的作用仍不清楚。值得注意的是，在 COVID-19 患者的临床前样本中发现了补体成分的异常激活和持续沉积，这已在动物模型中得到证实。最近的证据表明，补体抑制剂的使用可以缓解 ARDS 的炎症反应。因此，我们推测靶向补体系统可能是治疗 COVID-19 患者器官损伤的潜在治疗选择。