CIRBP and pulmonary fibrosis: In this study we hypothesized that the extracellular form of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP), i.e. eCIRP, a newly identified DAMP, may be a driver of COVID-19 associated respiratory failure as experimental studies have shown that it is an important mediator of sepsis induced acute lung injury (10) and bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis (11).