COVID-19 treatment: Combining anti-inflammatory and antiviral therapeutics using a network-based approach

Feixiong Cheng; Sujata Rao; Reena Mehra

doi:10.3949/ccjm.87a.ccc037

COVID-19 treatment: Combining anti-inflammatory and antiviral therapeutics using a network-based approach

Cleve Clin J Med. 2020 Jun 30. doi: 10.3949/ccjm.87a.ccc037. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Feixiong Cheng¹, Sujata Rao², Reena Mehra³

Affiliations

¹ Genomic Medicine Institute, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic; Department of Molecular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH chengf@ccf.org.
² Department of Ophthalmic Research, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic; Department of Molecular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH.
³ Sleep Disorders Center, Neurological Institute, Respiratory Institute, Heart, Vascular, and Thoracic Institute; Department of Molecular Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic.

PMID: 32606050
DOI: 10.3949/ccjm.87a.ccc037

Abstract

To date, there are no effective antiviral medications for COVID-19. Drug repurposing, a strategy that uses existing drugs, offers potential prevention and treatment options for COVID-19. We discuss one treatment strategy that combines anti-inflammatory (melatonin) and antiviral (toremifene) agents for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 from network medicine-based findings. We also describe the pathobiology and immunologic characteristics of COVID-19 and highlight the rationale of combination drug treatment to rescue the pulmonary and cardiovascular conditions resulting from COVID-19. A preliminary analysis reveals a high potential for the synergistic effects of melatonin and toremifene to reduce viral infection and replication, and the aberrant host inflammatory responses, offering strong biologic plausibility as an effective therapy for COVID-19.