With a global count of more than 28 million cases and 921,801 deaths till September 14, 2020, SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV2) remains a challenge for health professionals.Though more than 500 trials (clinicaltrials.gov) are ongoing, none of the agents has been officiallyapproved to treat the infection. Despite the preliminary favorable results of certain antiviral drugs, theresearch is curtailed by the risk of their toxicity and methodological flaws. Though psychotropics areplaced far away from antimicrobial and antiviral drugs in the taxonomy, antimicrobial and antiviralproperties of various psychotropics have been documented. With this background, we would like todiscuss the potential role of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in SARS-COV2 pathology.Among those infected, only 5%–15% progress to severe acute respiratory syndrome. This is mediatedthrough dysregulated immune response involving activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB), signaltransducer activator of transcription (STAT 3), and inflammatory cytokines. This eventually establishes aninflammatory feedback loop, leading to a state of hypercytokinemia, known as “cytokine storm,” which isimplicated in multiple organ dysfunction. Though agents with a potential action at virus-entry-level canhelp in preventing the infection, there is a vital need to investigate therapies that reduce dysregulatedimmune cascade. If successful, this could substantially reduce mortality.
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