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Updated: Dec 16, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unveiling the Polyfunctionality and Heterogeneity in Immune Responses
Published on: March 8, 2024
COVID-19 treatment: Combining anti-inflammatory and antiviral therapeutics using a network-based approach
Feixiong Cheng1, Sujata Rao2, Reena Mehra3
1Genomic 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.
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.
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