7.1  SARS-CoV-2 and anti-TNFα treatment
The SARS-CoV-2 mild/moderately affected patients exhibit symptoms such as dry cough, fever, and shortness of breath. In the case of severely affected individuals, hyperactivation of immune cells leads to the cytokine storm, which is created upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, resulting in the inflammation at the targeted tissues. Therefore, inhibiting the pro-inflammatory candidates might be a potential therapeutic option to treat COVID-19 [148]. Anti-TNF therapy was approved and has been utilized for 20 years as a promising option to treat autoimmune diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease [149]. TNF is the key enhancer of inflammation and also present in the blood of COVID-19 severely affected patients [150]. Therefore, prescribing anti-TNF therapy may help to prevent the aggression of the infection. It has been reported that patients with inflammatory bowel disease contracted with COVID-19. One hundred sixteen patients were on anti-TNF therapy, of whom 99 recovered, and only one patient died. Therefore, the usage of anti-TNF therapy may stand as a promising therapy to prevent the progression of the viral infection by inhibiting the key pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF [148].