Coumarin: An emerging antiviral agent

Abstract

Viral infections are responsible for many illnesses, and recent outbreaks have raised public health concerns. Despite the availability of many antiviral drugs, they are often unsuccessful due to the generation of viral mutants and less effective against their target virus. Identifying novel antiviral drugs is therefore of critical importance and natural products are an excellent source for such discoveries. Coumarin is one such natural compound that is a potential drug candidate owing to its properties of stability, solubility, and low toxicity. There are numerous evidences showing its inhibitory role against infection of various viruses such as HIV, Influenza, Enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16). The mechanisms involve either inhibition of proteins essential for viral entry, replication and infection or regulation of cellular pathways such as Akt-Mtor (mammalian target of rapamycin), NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells), and anti-oxidative pathway including NrF-2 (The nuclear factor erythroid 2 (NFE2)-related factor 2). This review summarizes the present state of understanding with a focus on coumarin's antiviral effect and their possible molecular mechanisms against Influenza virus, HIV, Hepatitis virus, Dengue virus and Chikungunya virus.

Theoretical Molecular Docking Study of the Structural Disruption of the Viral 3CL-Protease of COVID19 Induced by Binding of Capsaicin, Piperine and Curcumin Part 1: A Comparative Study with Chloroquine and Hydrochloroquine Two Antimalaric Drugs

“…Based on a literature survey, we tested eighteen phytochemical compounds with reported antiviral properties including, Allicin (Xie et al,2020), Bornyl acetate , Capsaicin (Tang et al, 2020), Carvacrol (Bansal et al, 2020), Catechol (Mishra et al, 2020), Cinnamic acid (Silva et al, 2020), Curcumin (Bonfim et al, 2020), Eucalyptol (Patra et al, 2020), Gallic acid (Arsianti et al, 2020), Geraniol (Wei et al, 2020), Linalool (Del Bosco et al, 2020, Nicotinic acid (Corona et al, 2020), Phytic acid (Narayanaswamy and Esa 2018), Piperine (Chandani et al, 2019), Quercetin (Nile et al, 2020;Lopes et al, 2020;Aggarwa et al, 2020), Resorcinol (Lee et al, 2019), Terpinen-4-ol (Patra et al, 2020) and Viridiflorene (Shayeganmehr et al, 2018). Additionally, we have used as molecular docking controls, two FDA-approved old antimalarial drug, Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine (an analogue of chloroquine) recommended for treating COVID-19 patients (Gautret et al, 2020).…”

In Silico Screening of Naturally Occurring Coumarin Derivatives for the Inhibition of the Main Protease of SARS-CoV-2

“…In addition, their stability, low side effects and toxicity, oral bioavailability and broad spectrum have made coumarins find a place in the medicinal field (Wang H, 2009). Numerous studies have reported anti-viral activity of naturally occurring coumarins inhibiting the functioning of viral proteins such as proteases, integrase, reverse transcriptase, DNA polymerase and also in preventing viral entry (Hassan et al, 2016;Mishra et al, 2020). For example, coumarins such as oxypeucedanin, heraclenol, pranferol, and…”

Pharmacological Activities of Coumarin Compounds in Licorice: A Review

“…[12][13][14] Based on their structural diversity, compounds in this family have been divided into various categories, including simple coumarins and polycyclic coumarins such as furocoumarins, pyranocoumarins, and phenylcoumarins. 12,15 Coumarins and coumarin-based hybrids have demonstrated numerous biological properties, including anticancer, 16,17 antiinflammatory, 18,19 antioxidant, 20,21 antiviral, 22,23 antimicrobial, 17,24,25 antifungal, 26 antitubercular, 27 anticoagulant, 28 antispasmodic, 29 antihyperglycemic, 30 antitubulin, 31,32 immunosuppressive, 33,34 hepatoprotective, 35 and neuroprotective 36 activities. Some mechanistic studies have also been performed.…”