Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32780893›Full record

ReviewFASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology2020

Rationale for the use of N-acetylcysteine in both prevention and adjuvant therapy of COVID-19.

Silvio De Flora, Roumen Balansky, Sebastiano La Maestra

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
109citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
18.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

109 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 188 citations in OpenAlex.

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49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Silvio De FloraDepartment of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
Roumen BalanskyNational Centre of Oncology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Sebastiano La MaestraDepartment of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
University of Genoa · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

COVID-19 may cause pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, cardiovascular alterations, and multiple organ failure, which have been ascribed to a cytokine storm, a systemic inflammatory response, and an attack by the immune system. Moreover, an oxidative stress imbalance has been demonstrated to occur in COVID-19 patients. N- Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is a precursor of reduced glutathione (GSH). Due to its tolerability, this pleiotropic drug has been proposed not only as a mucolytic agent, but also as a preventive/therapeutic agent in a variety of disorders involving GSH depletion and oxidative stress. At very high doses, NAC is also used as an antidote against paracetamol intoxication. Thiols block the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 thereby hampering penetration of SARS-CoV-2 into cells. Based on a broad range of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms, which are herein reviewed, the oral administration of NAC is likely to attenuate the risk of developing COVID-19, as it was previously demonstrated for influenza and influenza-like illnesses. Moreover, high-dose intravenous NAC may be expected to play an adjuvant role in the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases and in the control of its lethal complications, also including pulmonary and cardiovascular adverse events.

Indexed as

COVID-19COVID-19 Drug TreatmentAcetylcysteineAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2AntioxidantsChemotherapy, AdjuvantHumansOxidative StressSARS-CoV-2Virus InternalizationACE2 protein, humanAcetylcysteineAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2AntioxidantsCOVID-19glutathioneinflammationN-acetyl-L-cysteineoxidative stress

Identifiers

PMID32780893
PMCPMC7436914
OpenAlexW3047731046

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.