Antimalarial agents
Chloroquine (CQ) and its analogue hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), two
well-known anti-malarial drugs, have been proposed for severe COVID-19
treatment, with more than 70 clinical trials registered on
clinicaltrials.gov. Several studies have demonstrated the
anti-inflammatory activity of chloroquine mainly due to significant
inhibition ofcytokines release, including IL-1β, from monocytes and
macrophages (Hong et al., 2004). Recently, a direct role for chloroquine
in inhibiting the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome components has been
demonstrated (Chen, Wang, Zhu, Lu, Liu & Zheng, 2017). Besides,
hydroxychloroquine exerts its anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting
cathepsin-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation (Tang et al., 2018).