ReviewCellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS2022
Melatonin: highlighting its use as a potential treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Review in Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 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
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The clinical efficacy of melatonin in the treatment of patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Beneficial effects of melatonin on liver fibrosis: A systematic review of current biological evidence.Journal of cellular physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Melatonin in the Treatment of Female Infertility: Update on Biological and Clinical Findings.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Antiviral Effect of Melatonin on Caco-2 Cell Organoid Culture: Trick or Treat?International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Evolutionary formation of melatonin and vitamin D in early life forms: insects take centre stage.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2024Review
- A mid‑pandemic night's dream: Melatonin, from harbinger of anti‑inflammation to mitochondrial savior in acute and long COVID‑19 (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2024Review
- Mechanism and role of mitophagy in the development of severe infection.Cell death discovery · 2024Review
- Antineoplastic indole-containing compounds with potential VEGFR inhibitory properties.RSC advances · 2024Review
- The potential therapeutic role of melatonin in organ fibrosis: a comprehensive review.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Review
- Using machine learning probabilities to identify effects of COVID-19.Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Complications: Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Mitochondrial and Endothelial Dysfunction.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Indole-Based Compounds as Potential Drug Candidates for SARS-CoV-2.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Melatonin: Facts, Extrapolations and Clinical Trials.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Antiviral effect of melatonin on Japanese encephalitis virus infection involves inhibition of neuronal apoptosis and neuroinflammation in SH-SY5Y cells.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Melatonin Treatment in Kidney Diseases.Cells · 2023Review
- Chitosan-sEPDM and Melatonin-Chitosan-sEPDM Composite Membranes for Melatonin Transport and Release.Membranes · 2023Article
- Chronobiological Efficacy of Combined Therapy of Pelargonium Sidoides and Melatonin in Acute and Persistent Cases of COVID-19: A Hypothetical Approach.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Review
- Melatonin as a Potential Approach to Anxiety Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- In silico evaluation of Philippine Natural Products against SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease.Journal of molecular modeling · 2022Article
- Is Melatonin the "Next Vitamin D"?: A Review of Emerging Science, Clinical Uses, Safety, and Dietary Supplements.Nutrients · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Numerous pharmaceutical drugs have been repurposed for use as treatments for COVID-19 disease. These drugs have not consistently demonstrated high efficacy in preventing or treating this serious condition and all have side effects to differing degrees. We encourage the continued consideration of the use of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, melatonin, as a countermeasure to a SARS-CoV-2 infection. More than 140 scientific publications have identified melatonin as a likely useful agent to treat this disease. Moreover, the publications cited provide the rationale for the use of melatonin as a prophylactic agent against this condition. Melatonin has pan-antiviral effects and it diminishes the severity of viral infections and reduces the death of animals infected with numerous different viruses, including three different coronaviruses. Network analyses, which compared drugs used to treat SARS-CoV-2 in humans, also predicted that melatonin would be the most effective agent for preventing/treating COVID-19. Finally, when seriously infected COVID-19 patients were treated with melatonin, either alone or in combination with other medications, these treatments reduced the severity of infection, lowered the death rate, and shortened the duration of hospitalization. Melatonin's ability to arrest SARS-CoV-2 infections may reduce health care exhaustion by limiting the need for hospitalization. Importantly, melatonin has a high safety profile over a wide range of doses and lacks significant toxicity. Some molecular processes by which melatonin resists a SARS-CoV-2 infection are summarized. The authors believe that all available, potentially beneficial drugs, including melatonin, that lack toxicity should be used in pandemics such as that caused by SARS-CoV-2.
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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.