Proposal that COVID-19 risk is related to low intracellular heme oxygenase (HO-1), and that therapies that raise HO-1 may be beneficial, which includes fluvoxamine, certain anesthetics (sevoflurane or isoflurane), hemin, estrogen, statins, curcumin, resveratrol, and melatonin. Authors note that cigarette smoke is associated with increased HO-1 in lung fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells, which may help explain the lower risk for smokers seen in several studies.
Hooper et al., 6/4/2020, peer-reviewed, 1 author.