Foreign Property News | Posted by Shwe Zin Win
Melatonin was associated with a nearly 30% reduced likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the researchers found.
Melatonin could possibly have more use than just aiding in a good night’s sleep. A new study from the Cleveland Clinic suggests the hormone could be a possible treatment option for those infected with the novel coronavirus.
In an analysis of patient data from the Cleveland Clinic's COVID-19 registry, researchers found that melatonin, a hormone that regulates the body’s sleep-wake cycle, was “associated with a nearly 30% reduced likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 after adjusting for age, race, smoking history and various disease comorbidities,” according to a news release accompanying the study published in the journal PLOS Biology. (SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.)
The findings on melatonin were derived from a “novel artificial intelligence platform developed by Lerner Research Institute researchers to identify possible drugs for COVID-19 repurposing,” per the release.
More specifically, the researchers in the study “harnessed network medicine methodologies and large-scale electronic health records from Cleveland Clinic patients to identify clinical manifestations and pathologies common between COVID-19 and other diseases.”
More research is needed, specifically large-scale observational studies and randomized controlled trials, Cheng said, noting they are “critical to validate the clinical benefit of melatonin for patients with COVID-19.”
"Recent studies suggest that COVID-19 is a systematic disease impacting multiple cell types, tissues and organs, so knowledge of the complex interplays between the virus and other diseases is key to understanding COVID-19-related complications and identifying repurposable drugs," said Feixiong Cheng, Ph.D., assistant staff in Cleveland Clinic's Genomic Medicine Institute and lead author on the study, in a statement. "Our study provides a powerful, integrative network medicine strategy to predict disease manifestations associated with COVID-19 and facilitate the search for an effective treatment."
Ref: foxnews
