Antiviral Potential of Selected Medicinal Herbs and Their Isolated Natural Products

Abstract

Viruses are responsible for a variety of human pathogenesis. Owing to the enhancement of the world population, global travel, and rapid urbanization, and infectious outbreaks, a critical threat has been generated to public health, as preventive vaccines and antiviral therapy are not available. Herbal medicines and refined natural products have resources for the development of novel antiviral drugs. These natural agents have shed light on preventive vaccine development and antiviral therapies. This review intends to discuss the antiviral activities of plant extracts and some isolated plant natural products based on mainly preclinical (in vitro and in vivo) studies. Twenty medicinal herbs were selected for the discussion, and those are commonly recognized antiviral medicinal plants in Ayurveda (Zingiber officinale, Caesalpinia bonducella, Allium sativum, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Ferula assafoetida, Gymnema sylvestre, Gossypium herbaceum, Phyllanthus niruri, Trachyspermum ammi, Withania somnifera, Andrographis paniculata, Centella asiatica, Curcuma longa, Woodfordia fruticose, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia chebula, Tamarindus indica, Terminalia arjuna, Azadirachta indica, and Ficus religiosa). However, many viruses remain without successful immunization and only a few antiviral drugs have been approved for clinical use. Hence, the development of novel antiviral drugs is much significant and natural products are excellent sources for such drug developments. In this review, we summarize the antiviral actions of selected plant extracts and some isolated natural products of the medicinal herbs.

The efficacy of herbal medicines on the length of stay and negative conversion time/rate outcomes in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review

“…These results indicate that the highly oxygenated bisabolene sesquiterpenoid glycoside phyllaemblicins compounds found in Amla have potential against the Hepatitis B virus ( Lv et al, 2015 ). The compound glochicoccinoside D which was also obtained from Amla has antiviral potential against influenza A virus strain H3N2 and hand, foot, mouth virus (enterovirus) EV71 ( Perera et al, 2021 ).…”

Phyllanthus emblica fruits: a polyphenol-rich fruit with potential benefits for oral management

“…PEF not only regulates immunity to reduce the risk of infection, but also directly fights against a variety of human pathogenic viruses. 113 Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause the aberrant proliferation of squamous epithelium in human skin and mucous membranes. According to a survey, 114 high-risk HPV-16 infection is the most common cause of oral cancer in patients who have never used tobacco.…”

Activity and potential of Phyllantus niruri L. and Phyllantus urinaria L. as Hepatitis B virus inhibitors: A narrative review of the SANRA protocol

“…Therefore, their antiviral effects can be developed in the future [5,[17][18][19]. Arbab et al [20] identified and evaluated the antiviral activity of 60 plant species, concluding that the compounds contained in P. niruri L. and P. urinaria L. were active as HBV inhibitor agents [21]. Meanwhile, pure compounds from the Meniran plant were reported to inhibit the replication and expression of HBV in cells used as test models [4,[22][23][24][25][26] and were hepatoprotective [27][28][29][30].…”