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Spuch C, López-García M, Rivera-Baltanás T, Cabrera-Alvargonzález JJ, Gadh S, Rodrigues-Amorim D, Álvarez-Estévez T, Mora A, Iglesias-Martínez-Almeida M, Freiría-Martínez L, Pérez-Rodríguez M, Pérez-González A, López-Domínguez A, Longueira-Suarez MR, Sousa-Domínguez A, Araújo-Ameijeiras A, Mosquera-Rodríguez D, Crespo M, Vila-Fernández D, Regueiro B, Olivares JM. Efficacy and Safety of Lithium Treatment in SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:850583. [PMID: 35496309 PMCID: PMC9046673 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.850583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
At the beginning of the pandemic, we observed that lithium carbonate had a positive effect on the recovery of severely ill patients with COVID-19. Lithium is able to inhibit the replication of several types of viruses, some of which are similar to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, increase the immune response and reduce inflammation by preventing or reducing the cytokine storm. Previously, we published an article with data from six patients with severe COVID-19 infection, where we proposed that lithium carbonate could be used as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Now, we set out to conduct a randomized clinical trial number EudraCT 2020–002008–37 to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lithium treatment in patients infected with severe SARS-CoV-2. We showed that lithium was able to reduce the number of days of hospital and intensive care unit admission as well as the risk of death, reduces inflammatory cytokine levels by preventing cytokine storms, and also reduced the long COVID syndromes. We propose that lithium carbonate can be used to reduce the severity of COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Spuch
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- *Correspondence: Carlos Spuch,
| | - Marta López-García
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, SERGAS, Vigo, Spain
| | - Tania Rivera-Baltanás
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
| | - J. J Cabrera-Alvargonzález
- Microbiology and Infectology Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Sudhir Gadh
- US Navy Medical Corps Commander, Medical Director at Educational Alliance, Medical Director at Rejuvenation Health, New York, NY, United States
| | - Daniela Rodrigues-Amorim
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Norfolk, United States
| | - Tania Álvarez-Estévez
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, SERGAS, Vigo, Spain
| | - Almudena Mora
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
| | - Marta Iglesias-Martínez-Almeida
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
| | - Luis Freiría-Martínez
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
| | - Maite Pérez-Rodríguez
- Infectious Diseases Unit and Virology & Pathogenesis Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Alexandre Pérez-González
- Infectious Diseases Unit and Virology & Pathogenesis Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Ana López-Domínguez
- Infectious Diseases Unit and Virology & Pathogenesis Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - María Rebeca Longueira-Suarez
- Infectious Diseases Unit and Virology & Pathogenesis Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Adrián Sousa-Domínguez
- Infectious Diseases Unit and Virology & Pathogenesis Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Alejandro Araújo-Ameijeiras
- Infectious Diseases Unit and Virology & Pathogenesis Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - David Mosquera-Rodríguez
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Intensive Care Unit, Critical Care and Emergency Department, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, SERGAS, Vigo, Spain
| | - Manuel Crespo
- Microbiology and Infectology Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Dolores Vila-Fernández
- Intensive Care Unit, Critical Care and Emergency Department, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, SERGAS, Vigo, Spain
| | - Benito Regueiro
- Microbiology and Infectology Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
- Microbiology Department, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, SERGAS, Vigo, Spain
- Microbiology and Parasitology Department Medicine and Odontology, Universidade de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Jose Manuel Olivares
- Translational Neuroscience Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, CIBERSAM, Vigo, Spain
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, SERGAS, Vigo, Spain
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