PMID- 36094778 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20221101 LR - 20231110 IS - 1573-4978 (Electronic) IS - 0301-4851 (Print) IS - 0301-4851 (Linking) VI - 49 IP - 11 DP - 2022 Nov TI - Nitazoxanide and COVID-19: A review. PG - 11169-11176 LID - 10.1007/s11033-022-07822-2 [doi] AB - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a current global illness triggered by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) leading to acute viral pneumonia, acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and cytokine storm in severe cases. In the COVID-19 era, different unexpected old drugs are repurposed to find out effective and cheap therapies against SARS-CoV-2. One of these elected drugs is nitazoxanide (NTZ) which is an anti-parasitic drug with potent antiviral activity. It is effectively used in the treatment of protozoa and various types of helminths in addition to various viral infections. Thus, we aimed to elucidate the probable effect of NTZ on SARS-CoV-2 infections. Findings of the present study illustrated that NTZ can reduce SARS-CoV-2-induced inflammatory reactions through activation of interferon (IFN), restoration of innate immunity, inhibition of the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, suppression of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and induction of autophagic cell death. Moreover, it can inhibit the induction of oxidative stress which causes cytokine storm and is associated with ALI, ARDS, and multi-organ damage (MOD). This study concluded that NTZ has important anti-inflammatory and immunological properties that may mitigate SARS-CoV-2 infection-induced inflammatory disorders. Despite broad-spectrum antiviral properties of NTZ, the direct anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect was not evident and documented in recent studies. Then, in silico and in vitro studies in addition to clinical trials and prospective studies are needed to confirm the beneficial impact of NTZ on the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. CI - (c) 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. FAU - Al-Kuraishy, Hayder M AU - Al-Kuraishy HM AD - Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Medicine, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, 14132, Iraq. FAU - Al-Gareeb, Ali I AU - Al-Gareeb AI AD - Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Medicine, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, 14132, Iraq. FAU - Elekhnawy, Engy AU - Elekhnawy E AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-8287-1026 AD - Pharmaceutical Microbiology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt. engy.ali@pharm.tanta.edu.eg. FAU - Batiha, Gaber El-Saber AU - Batiha GE AD - Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour, 22511, AlBeheira, Egypt. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Review DEP - 20220912 PL - Netherlands TA - Mol Biol Rep JT - Molecular biology reports JID - 0403234 RN - SOA12P041N (nitazoxanide) RN - 0 (Antiviral Agents) RN - 0 (Cytokines) SB - IM MH - Humans MH - Cytokine Release Syndrome MH - SARS-CoV-2 MH - *Respiratory Distress Syndrome MH - Antiviral Agents/pharmacology/therapeutic use MH - Cytokines/metabolism MH - *Acute Lung Injury/drug therapy MH - *COVID-19 Drug Treatment PMC - PMC9465141 OTO - NOTNLM OT - Acute lung injury OT - Acute respiratory distress syndrome OT - Anti-inflammatory OT - Antiviral OT - Oxidative stress OT - Pro-inflammatory cytokines COIS- The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. EDAT- 2022/09/13 06:00 MHDA- 2022/11/02 06:00 PMCR- 2022/09/12 CRDT- 2022/09/12 11:56 PHST- 2022/05/13 00:00 [received] PHST- 2022/07/26 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2022/09/13 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2022/11/02 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2022/09/12 11:56 [entrez] PHST- 2022/09/12 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.1007/s11033-022-07822-2 [pii] AID - 7822 [pii] AID - 10.1007/s11033-022-07822-2 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Mol Biol Rep. 2022 Nov;49(11):11169-11176. doi: 10.1007/s11033-022-07822-2. Epub 2022 Sep 12.