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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 13
| Issue : 1 | Page : 145 |
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Fenofibrates: A safe and novel weapon against coronavirus-induced lung fibrosis
Mohammad Reza Namazi, Mohammad Mahdi Parvizi
Department of Dermatology, Molecular Dermatology Research Center, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| Date of Submission | 21-Sep-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 15-Jan-2021 |
| Date of Web Publication | 28-Nov-2022 |
Correspondence Address:
Mohammad Mahdi Parvizi
Molecular Dermatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Zand Avenue, Shahid Faghihi Hospital, Shiraz - 7134844119
Iran
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_566_20
How to cite this article:
Namazi MR, Parvizi MM. Fenofibrates: A safe and novel weapon against coronavirus-induced lung fibrosis. Int J Prev Med 2022;13:145 |
Dear Editor,
Coronavirus-19 is a novel virus involving humans and animals in the world.[1] According to chest radiography and chest computerized tomography (CT) scan, the lungs of patients with COVID-19 are infiltrative prone to lung fibrosis that may result in death.[2] Therefore, prevention and early treatment of lung fibrosis are critical.
The infection, as well as Coronavirus-19, causes a surge in the production of IL-6, which is known to potently induce fibrosis via a STAT-3 dependent pathway.[3] Therefore, blocking the fibrosis pathway can be a way to prevent lung fibrosis, as well as morbidity and mortality of the disease.
Fenofibrates are fibric acid derivative used for dyslipidemia, hypercholesterolaemia, and hypertriglyceridaemia.[4] According to the literature, these drugs reduce C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, immunoglobulin G, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inhibit the STAT3 pathway.[5],[6] Literature showed that gemfibrozil, a fenofibrate which used a lot, had significant effects in treatment of influenza and decrease in mortality rate due to this disease in mice model and these effects of fenofibrates were more remarkable in comparison with statin simvastatin.[7]
In conclusion, there are several evidence that show the main cause of death due to COVID-19 is lung damage, lung fibrosis, and impaired ventilation. Therefore, it seems that phenofibrates can be a good choice to prevent lung fibrosis and death in patients with COVID-19.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
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| 2. | Bernheim A, Mei X, Huang M, Yang Y, Fayad ZA, Zhang N, et al. Chest CT findings in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19): Relationship to duration of infection. Radiology 2020;295:200463. |
| 3. | Epstein Shochet G, Brook E, Bardenstein-Wald B, Shitrit D. TGF-β pathway activation by idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) fibroblast derived soluble factors is mediated by IL-6 trans-signaling. Respiratory Research. 2020;21. |
| 4. | Keating GM, Croom KF. Fenofibrate. Drugs 2007;67:121-53. |
| 5. | Wahba MG, Messiha BA, Abo-Saif AA. Protective effects of fenofibrate and resveratrol in an aggressive model of rheumatoid arthritis in rats. Pharm Biol 2016;54:1705-15. |
| 6. | Lv J, Wang X, Liu S, Liang P, Feng M, Zhang L, et al. Protective effect of Fenofibrate in renal ischemia reperfusion injury: Involved in suppressing kinase 2 (JAK2)/transcription 3 (STAT3)/p53 signaling activation. Pathol Biol 2015;63:236-42. |
| 7. | Alleva L, Budd A, Clark I. Minimising influenza disease with fibrates. Int J Infect Dis 2008;12:e176. |
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