TABLE 1.

Potential anti‐viral and immunomodulatory mechanisms of lithium relevant to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection

Action	Mechanism	References
Antiviral effects	Inhibition of viral RNA polymerase, probably related to blockade of co‐factor phosphorylation through inhibition of GSK‐3β Protection of host cells from apoptosis triggered by viral infection	Harrison et al., 2007; Asenjo et al., 2008 Ren et al., 2011
Immunomodulatory effects	Inhibition of NF‐κB Inhibition of IL‐6 induced activation of STAT‐3, perhaps mediated through inhibition of GSK‐3β Inhibition of IL‐1β production Reduction in cyclooxygenase‐2 expression	Troib & Azab, 2015 Beurel et al., 2010; Wang, Zhang, Li, et al., 2013; Minashima et al., 2014 Nassar & Azab, 2014 Nassar & Azab, 2014

Abbreviations: RNA, ribonucleic acid; GSK‐3β, glycogen synthase kinase—3 beta; NF‐κB, nuclear factor kappa B; STAT‐3, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3; IL‐6, interleukin‐6; IL‐1β, interleukin‐1 beta.