The takeover also induces expression of proinflammatory cytokine IL6, among the molecules involved in the COVID-19 cytokine storm (Fajgenbaum and June, 2020; Wilson et al., 2020), which can signal to many immune cells and most structural cells of the lung, as well as the profibrotic cytokine TGFB1, the central mediator of lung fibrogenesis (Meng et al., 2016), which can signal to most epithelial and fibroblast cell types. The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is COVID-19.