Finsterer J, Scorza FA, Scorza CA, Fiorini AC. Repurposing the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent N-acetyl cysteine for treating COVID-19. World J Virol 2022; 11(1): 82-84 [PMID: 35117973 DOI: 10.5501/wjv.v11.i1.82]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Josef Finsterer, MD, Lecturer, Neurological Department, Messerli Institute, Postfach 20, Vienna 1180, Austria. fifigs1@yahoo.de
Research Domain of This Article
Neurosciences
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Virol. Jan 25, 2022; 11(1): 82-84 Published online Jan 25, 2022. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v11.i1.82
Repurposing the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent N-acetyl cysteine for treating COVID-19
Josef Finsterer, Fulvio A Scorza, Carla A Scorza, Ana C Fiorini
Josef Finsterer, Neurological Department, Messerli Institute, Vienna 1180, Austria
Fulvio A Scorza, Carla A Scorza, Ana C Fiorini, Department of Neurology, University of Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo 01000-000, Brazil
Author contributions: Finsterer J contributed to design, first draft, literature search, discussion, final approval; Scorza FA, Scorza CA, and Fiorini AC contributed to the literature search, discussion, final approval.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Josef Finsterer, MD, Lecturer, Neurological Department, Messerli Institute, Postfach 20, Vienna 1180, Austria. fifigs1@yahoo.de
Received: May 24, 2021 Peer-review started: May 24, 2021 First decision: June 17, 2021 Revised: June 23, 2021 Accepted: December 10, 2021 Article in press: December 10, 2021 Published online: January 25, 2022
Abstract
Although several considerations have been raised suggesting a beneficial effect of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, there is currently no clinical evidence that NAC truly prevents coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), reduces the severity of the disease, or improves the outcome. Appropriately designed clinical trials are warranted to prove or disprove a therapeutic effect of NAC for COVID-19 patients.
Core tip: N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a well-known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent that has been considered beneficial in the treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although previous studies in patients with chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease, immune-mediated disease, viral infections, and malignancy have shown promising results, there is currently no clinical evidence that NAC prevents COVID-19, alleviates the severity of COVID-19, or improves the overall outcome of COVID-19 patients.
