Two other genes, CCL2 and MMP8, displayed a high degree centrality scores in both ALI- and COVID-19-related gene networks as well as the inflammatome (Fig 5A), and are known important regulators of neutrophil-driven repair of injured lungs, as these protein products have neutrophil chemoattractant function [120] and are involved in the remodelling of damaged lung tissues [26], respectively. This evidence concerns the gene MMP8 and COVID-19.