BIRC2 and COVID-19: In addition, many transcripts encoding for molecules involved in cell survival and preventing apoptosis like BIRC2, BIRC3, BCL2A1, MCL1, VIM, and BCL2-xL (95, 96) were also increased in cells from patients with severe COVID-19 illness, although some molecules with pro-apoptotic function (e.g., CYCS, BIM, FAS) (97) were also increased (Fig. 4A-D and fig.