Abstract
Chloroquine (CQ) was and still considered as the most common agent in
treatment and prophylaxis of malaria, it also possesses many different
pharmacological and biological activities that make it able to be used
as a therapy or adjuvant therapy for many types of diseases. CQ exhibits
anticancer activity alone or as adjuvants with other agents against many
kinds of tumors. Its activities also were approved as anti-inflammatory
agent in rheumatoid and other autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus
and rheumatic arthritis. Its important role in improvement of many
metabolic disorders like hypertension, hyperglycemia, and lipid profile
disturbances was also established. CQ can act against different
microbial infections such as many types of virus, bacteria and fungus by
different mechanisms of action. Furthermore, its dermatological role in
treatment of many skin diseases was demonstrated. Recently, CQ showed
very responsive role in curing and prevention of covoid-19 virus. This
review summarizes intensively the multiple therapeutic applications of
CQ and discusses the possible mechanisms of action for these
applications.