ReviewPharmacological research2020
The possible mechanisms of action of 4-aminoquinolines (chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine) against Sars-Cov-2 infection (COVID-19): A role for iron homeostasis?
Review in Pharmacological research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 4 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 160 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine against SARS-CoV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy · 2021Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in treatment of COVID19 -a systematic review and meta-analysis.Indian journal of medical microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- Treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a systematic review ofTheranostics · 2021Pooled it
- Hydroxychloroquine and mortality in COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and a meta-analysis of observational studies and randomized controlled trials.Pathogens and global healthPooled it
- Nasal inhalation of antiviral microparticulate powders to target early infection of upper airways.Drug delivery and translational research · 2026Article
- Fe-S Protein FDX1 Triggers Tumor-Intrinsic Innate Immunity via Mitochondrial Nucleic Acids Release to Orchestrate Ferroptosis in CCRCC.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- 4-Aminoquinoline: a comprehensive review of synthetic strategies.Frontiers in chemistry · 2025Review
- Effect of a Total Extract and Saponins fromInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- COVID-19 associated thyroid dysfunction and other comorbidities and its management using phytochemical-based therapeutics: a natural way.Bioscience reports · 2023Review
- The paradigm of prophylactic viral outbreaks measures by microbial biosurfactants.Journal of infection and public health · 2023Review
- An overview on role of nutrition on COVID-19 immunity: Accumulative review from available studies.Clinical nutrition open science · 2023Review
- Chloroquine chaos and COVID-19: Smart delivery perspectives through pH sensitive polymers/micelles and ZnO nanoparticles.Arabian journal of chemistry · 2023Review
- COVID-19's immuno-pathology and cardiovascular diseases.Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research · 2023Review
- Mitochondrial Iron Metabolism: The Crucial Actors in Diseases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Pulmonary Delivery of Hydroxychloroquine Nanostructured Lipid Carrier as a Potential Treatment of COVID-19.Polymers · 2022Article
- High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in COVID-19: extrapolation of dangerous liaisons.Inflammopharmacology · 2022Review
- A review of the effects of ATP and hydroxychloroquine on the phase separation of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein.Biophysical reviews · 2022Review
- Off-Label Use of Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19: Analysis of Reports of Suspected Adverse Reactions From the Italian National Network of Pharmacovigilance.Journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Article
- Review
11 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
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The anti-malarial drugs chloroquine (CQ) and primarily the less toxic hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are currently used to treat autoimmune diseases for their immunomodulatory and anti-thrombotic properties. They have also been proposed for the treatment of several viral infections, due to their anti-viral effects in cell cultures and animal models, and, currently, for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus 2 (Sars-Cov-2) infection that is spreading all over the world. Although in some recent studies a clinical improvement in COVID-19 patients has been observed, the clinical efficacy of CQ and HCQ in COVID-19 has yet to be proven with randomized controlled studies, many of which are currently ongoing, also considering pharmacokinetics, optimal dosing regimen, therapeutic level and duration of treatment and taking into account patients with different severity degrees of disease. Here we review what is currently known on the mechanisms of action of CQ and HCQ as anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic drugs and discuss the up-to-date experimental evidence on the potential mechanisms of action of CQ/HCQ in Sars-Cov2 infection and the current clinical knowledge on their efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Given the role of iron in several human viral infections, we also propose a different insight into a number of CQ and HCQ pharmacological effects, suggesting a potential involvement of iron homeostasis in Sars-Cov-2 infection and COVID-19 clinical course.
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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.