Give a short and critical explanation of the rationale of using fluvoxamine (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in the treatment of Covid patients:

Fluvoxamine is a SSRI that is approved by the FDA in the treatment of OCD, depression and other conditions. However, it is not approved by the FDA for the treatment of infections (NIH, 2021).

Fluvoxamine has a high affinity for the S1R which is the ER-resident protein sigma-1-receptor. This receptor is responsible for restricting endonuclease activity of the ER stress sensor, IRE1 and it restricts the expression of cytokines as well. This does not mean that fluvoxamine inhibits the inflammatory signaling pathways, it only inhibits the synthesis of the inflammatory cytokines. Cytokine expression is what leads to inflammation in COVID-19, and fluvoxamine decreases the inflammatory response in leukocytes (CIDRAP, 2021).

Due to this, fluvoxamine is currently undergoing studies to determine its effectiveness in the treatment of COVID-19

References:

NIH (National institute of health). 2021. https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/immunomodulators/fluvoxamine/ Date of access: 13 Oct. 2021

CIDRAP (Center fro Infectious Disease Research and Policy). 2021. OCD drug spotlighted as potential COVID-19 treatment. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/04/ocd-drug-spotlighted-potential-covid-19-treatment Date of access: 16 Oct. 2021.