IL6 and COVID-19: Moreover, 1) the presence of sXBP1 in nasopharyngeal swabs and BAAs, 2) sXBP1 induction by ssRNA40 in MDDCs, 3) the effect of IRE1 RNase inhibition on the cytokine induction produced by ssRNA40, and 4) the demonstration of sXBP1 binding to IL1B, IL6, and TNF promoters, all suggest that TLR8-induced XBP1 splicing potentially contributes to the viral sepsis observed in severe cases of COVID-19 (Fernández et al., 2022).