ReviewMedical sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2018
Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN)-Review of Therapeutic Utilization.
Review in Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 69 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
IC PaIN Trial: Interstitial Cystitis Pain Improvement With Naltrexone, the Effect of Low Dose Naltrexone on Symptoms and Pain of Patients With Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome a Randomized Placebo-controlled Prospective Trial
Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Therapy for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS): A Feasibility Study
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 138 citations in OpenAlex.
- Management of classic lichen planopilaris: The EADV task force on hair diseases position statement.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2026Guideline
- The use of naltrexone in the treatment of chronic pain: a systematic review.Pain management · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Naltrexone Restores Impaired Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 3 Ion Channel Function in Natural Killer Cells From Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients.Frontiers in immunology · 2019Trial
- Low-Dose Naltrexone in Crohn's Disease: A Prematurely Terminated Randomized Trial Showing Reduced Fatigue Without Clinical or Endoscopic Benefit.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Article
- Integrated in silico and in vivo approaches reveal naltrexone as a synergistic modulator of TLR4 and μ-opioid receptors restoring redox homeostasis via Nrf2/Keap-1/HO-1 and HIF-1α/VEGF pathways in COPD.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2026Article
- The expanding potential of low-dose naltrexone in clinical practice with a focus on long COVID.The mental health clinician · 2026Article
- Review
- Article
- Low-Dose Naltrexone in Chronic Pain Management: Mechanisms, Evidence, and Clinical Implications.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
- Article
- Chronic Pain in Multiple Sclerosis: Mechanisms, Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Strategies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Low dose naltrexone for fibromyalgia: case series demonstrating pain relief and other health benefits.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Naltrexone Has Variable and Schedule-Dependent Effects on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Extemporaneous Preparation and Effectiveness of Low-Dose Naltrexone for the Treatment of Uremic Pruritus: A Literature Review and Case Report.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Combined Naltrexone-Bupropion Therapy for Concurrent Cocaine Use Disorder and Obesity: A Case Report.Reports (MDPI) · 2025Article
- Low-Dose Naltrexone for Managing Pain and Autonomic Symptoms in Patients With Dysautonomia.Cureus · 2025Article
- Therapeutic options for the treatment of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: a scoping review.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of low-dose naltrexone (LDN) in fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Article
- Current and Evolving Concepts in the Management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Narrative Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Naltrexone and naloxone are classical opioid antagonists. In substantially lower than standard doses, they exert different pharmacodynamics. Low-dose naltrexone (LDN), considered in a daily dose of 1 to 5 mg, has been shown to reduce glial inflammatory response by modulating Toll-like receptor 4 signaling in addition to systemically upregulating endogenous opioid signaling by transient opioid-receptor blockade. Clinical reports of LDN have demonstrated possible benefits in diseases such as fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, complex-regional pain syndrome, Hailey-Hailey disease, and cancer. In a dosing range at less than 1 μg per day, oral naltrexone or intravenous naloxone potentiate opioid analgesia by acting on filamin A, a scaffolding protein involved in μ-opioid receptor signaling. This dose is termed ultra low-dose naltrexone/naloxone (ULDN). It has been of use in postoperative control of analgesia by reducing the need for the total amount of opioids following surgery, as well as ameliorating certain side-effects of opioid-related treatment. A dosing range between 1 μg and 1 mg comprises very low-dose naltrexone (VLDN), which has primarily been used as an experimental adjunct treatment for boosting tolerability of opioid-weaning methadone taper. In general, all of the low-dose features regarding naltrexone and naloxone have been only recently and still scarcely scientifically evaluated. This review aims to present an overview of the current knowledge on these topics and summarize the key findings published in peer-review sources. The existing potential of LDN, VLDN, and ULDN for various areas of biomedicine has still not been thoroughly and comprehensively addressed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.