IL6 and viral infectious disease: Most importantly, Jessica Gasparello et al. showed that exposure of epithelial IB3-1 cells to SARS-CoV-2 S protein induced increased release, particularly of cytokines/chemokines causing the deep inflammatory state, while previous cell experiments have revealed that SFN might reverse S protein-induced upregulation of IL-6 and IL-8, showing certain therapeutic effects on viral infections [38].