ArticleJournal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology2021
Repurposing of Tetracyclines for COVID-19 Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Manifestations: A Valid Option to Control SARS-CoV-2-Associated Neuroinflammation?
Article in Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of early adjunctive pharmacotherapy on serum levels of brain injury biomarkers in patients with traumatic brain injury: a systematic review of randomized controlled studies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- The Combination of Nirmatrelvir and Ivermectin Exerts Strongly Synergistic Antiviral and Anti-Inflammatory Effects Against Murine Coronavirus Infection of Macrophages.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Long COVID-associated neurological symptoms and brain fog: Understanding the mechanism of neuroinflammation, BBB disruption, diagnostics, and therapeutics.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Molecular mechanisms of 10-butyl ether minocycline, a novel nonantibiotic tetracycline, as a potential treatment for inflammatory and neuroimmune-related disorders.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Ocular neuroinflammatory response secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection-a review.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Alzheimer's disease and infectious agents: a comprehensive review of pathogenic mechanisms and microRNA roles.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Predicted Environmental Risk Assessment of Antimicrobials with Increased Consumption in Portugal during the COVID-19 Pandemic; The Groundwork for the Forthcoming Water Quality Survey.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- New insight in the cross-talk between microglia and schizophrenia: From the perspective of neurodevelopment.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Article
- Hyper/neuroinflammation in COVID-19 and suicide etiopathogenesis: Hypothesis for a nefarious collision?Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Review
- Neuroimmune multi-hit perspective of coronaviral infection.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2021Review
- Doxycycline Inhibition of a Pseudotyped Virus Transduction Does Not Translate to Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity.Viruses · 2021Article
- NOX2 Activation in COVID-19: Possible Implications for Neurodegenerative Diseases.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has gained considerable attention worldwide due to its increased potential to spread and infect the general population. COVID-19 primarily targets the human respiratory epithelium but also has neuro-invasive potential. Indeed, neuropsychiatric manifestations, such as fatigue, febrile seizures, psychiatric symptoms, and delirium, are consistently observed in COVID-19. The neurobiological basis of neuropsychiatric COVID-19 symptoms is not fully understood. However, previous evidence about systemic viral infections pointed to an ongoing neuroinflammatory response to viral antigens and proinflammatory mediators/immune cells from the periphery. Microglia cells mediate the overproduction of inflammatory cytokines, free radicals, and damage signals, culminating with neurotoxic consequences. Semi-synthetic second-generation tetracyclines, including minocycline (MINO) and doxycycline (DOXY), are safe bacteriostatic agents that have remarkable neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties. Promising results have been obtained in clinical trials using tetracyclines for major psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and major depression. Tetracyclines can inhibit microglial reactivity and neuroinflammation by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) signaling, cyclooxygenase 2, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). This drug class also has a broad profile of activity against bacteria associated with community-based pneumonia, including atypical agents. COVID-19 patients are susceptible to secondary bacterial infections, especially those on invasive ventilation. Therefore, we suggest tetracyclines' repurposing as a potential treatment for COVID-19 neuropsychiatric manifestations. These drugs can represent a valuable multi-modal treatment for COVID-19-associated neuroinflammatory alterations based on their broad antimicrobial profile and neuroinflammation control.
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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.