Copyright
©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Repurposing the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent N-acetyl cysteine for treating COVID-19
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
Processing time: 235 Days and 14.5 Hours
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
Processing time: 235 Days and 14.5 Hours
Core Tip
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.