Aims The immune response is essential for the control and resolution of viral infections. Following the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), several immunotherapies were applied to modulate the immune responses of the affected patients. In this review, we aimed to describe the role of the immune system in response to COVID-19. We also provide a systematic review to collate and describe all published reports of the using immunotherapies, including convalescent plasma therapy, monoclonal antibodies, cytokine therapy, mesenchymal stem cell therapy, and intravenous immunoglobulin and their important outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Material and methods A thorough search strategy was applied to identify published research trials in PubMed, Scopus, Medline, and EMBASE from Dec 1, 2019, to May 4, 2020, for studies reporting clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients treated with immunotherapies along with other standard cares. Key findings From an initial screen of 80 identified studies, 24 studies provided clinical outcome data on the use of immunotherapies for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, including convalescent plasma therapy (33 patients), monoclonal antibodies (55 patients), interferon (31 patients), mesenchymal stem cell therapy (8 patient), and immunoglobulin (63 patients). Except for nine severe patients who died after treatment, most patients were recovered from COVID-19 with improved clinical symptoms and laboratory assessment. Significance Based on the available evidence, it seems that treatment with immunotherapy along with other standard cares could be an effective and safe approach to modulate the immune system and improvement of clinical outcomes.

Summary The alarming rise of morbidity and mortality caused by influenza pandemics and epidemics has drawn attention worldwide since the last few decades. This life‐threatening problem necessitates the development of a safe and effective vaccine to protect against incoming pandemics. The currently available flu vaccines rely on inactivated viral particles, M2e‐based vaccine, live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) and virus like particle (VLP). While inactivated vaccines can only induce systemic humoral responses, LAIV and VLP vaccines stimulate both humoral and cellular immune responses. Yet, these vaccines have limited protection against newly emerging viral strains. These strains, however, can be targeted by universal vaccines consisting of conserved viral proteins such as M2e and capable of inducing cross‐reactive immune response. The lack of viral genome in VLP and M2e‐based vaccines addresses safety concern associated with existing attenuated vaccines. With the emergence of new recombinant viral strains each year, additional effort towards developing improved universal vaccine is warranted. Besides various types of vaccines, microRNA and exosome‐based vaccines have been emerged as new types of influenza vaccines which are associated with new and effective properties. Hence, development of a new generation of vaccines could contribute to better treatment of influenza.

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Designing and manufacturing efficient vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a major objective. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the most important vaccines under construction worldwide, their efficiencies and clinical results in healthy individuals and in those with specific underlying diseases. We conducted a comprehensive search in PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Web of Sciences by 1 December 2021 to identify published research studies. The inclusion criteria were publications that evaluated the immune responses and safety of COVID‐19 vaccines in healthy individuals and in those with pre‐existing diseases. We also searched the VAERS database to estimate the incidence of adverse events of special interest (AESI) post COVID‐19 vaccination. Almost all investigated vaccines were well tolerated and developed good levels of both humoural and cellular responses. A protective and efficient humoural immune response develops after the second or third dose of vaccine and a longer interval (about 28 days) between the first and second injections of vaccine could induce higher antibody responses. The vaccines were less immunogenic in immunocompromised patients, particularly those with haematological malignancies. In addition, we found that venous and arterial thrombotic events, Bell's palsy, and myocarditis/pericarditis were the most common AESI. The results showed the potency of the SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines to protect subjects against disease. The provision of further effective and safe vaccines is necessary in order to reach a high coverage of immunisation programs across the globe and to provide protection against infection itself.

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Soybean Bowman‐Birk protease inhibitor (BBI) and genistein, two biological compounds from soybean, are well‐known for their anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. The aim of this study was designing a BBI‐genistein conjugate and then investigating its protective effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced inflammation in BALB/c mice, compared with the effects of combination of BBI and genistein. BBI was purified from soybean and the BBI‐genistein conjugate was synthesized. The BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally treated 2 hours before LPS induction. Our results showed that treatment with the combination of BBI and genistein greatly led to more reduced serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α and interferon (IFN)‐γ compared with the treatments of BBI alone, the BBI‐genistein conjugate, and genistein alone, respectively. Moreover, the expression of TNF‐α and IFN‐γ in the splenocytes was significantly downregulated along with improving host survival against the LPS‐induced lethal endotoxemia in the same way. Our data support a new combined therapy using BBI and genistein, as natural anti‐inflammatory agents, to develop a new drug for inflammatory diseases.

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