In Search of Herbal Anti-SARS-Cov2 Compounds

Abstract

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the spread of the new coronavirus had reached the stage of a pandemic. To date (23.10.2020), there are more than 40 million confirmed cases of the disease in the world, at the same time there is still no effective treatment for the disease. For management and treatment of SARS-Cov2, the development of an antiviral drug is needed. Since the representatives of all human cultures have used medicinal plants to treat viral diseases throughout their history, plants can be considered as sources of new antiviral drug compounds against emerging viruses. The huge metabolic potential of plants allows us to expect discovery of plant compounds for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus infection. This idea is supported by number of papers on the anti-SARS-Cov2 activity of plant extracts and specific compounds in the experiments in silico , in vitro , and in vivo . Here, we summarize information on methods and approaches aimed to search for anti-SARS-Cov2 compounds including cheminformatics, bioinformatics, genetic engineering of viral targets, interacting with drugs, biochemical approaches etc. Our mini-review may be useful for better planning future experiments (including rapid methods for screening compounds for antiviral activity, the initial assessment of the antiviral potential of various plant species in relation to certain pathogens, etc.) and giving a hand to those who are making first steps in this field.

Sulforaphane inhibits the expression of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 induced in bronchial epithelial IB3-1 cells by exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein

“…Several anti-inflammatory strategies to reduce COVID-19 “cytokine storm” and associated ARDS have been proposed using biomolecules derived from herbal medicinal extracts and reviewed by several authors ( Khalifa et al, 2020 ; Matveeva et al, 2020 ). This was judged to be a key strategy at the beginning of the pandemic, in consideration of the unknown nature of the disease and the lack of effective treatment protocols and approved vaccines ( Adem et al, 2020 , Ngwa et al, 2020 ).…”

Appraisals of the Bangladeshi Medicinal Plant Calotropis gigantea Used by Folk Medicine Practitioners in the Management of COVID-19: A Biochemical and Computational Approach

“…Currently, SARS-CoV-2 infection has emerged as a global pandemic and requires an international public health emergence ( Matveeva et al, 2020 ; Remali and Aizat, 2021 ). However, different research organizations and pharmaceutical companies are working relentlessly for the management of the infection.…”

Effect of prophylactic use of intra-nasal oil formulations in the hamster model of Covid-19

“…Though several repurposed drugs are currently being used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients but have limited efficacy. Herbal medicines or medicines derived from herbal extracts offer a safer alternative therapy due to their prolonged human use, acceptability with lesser side effects [15][16][17] . Recently, Chinese traditional medicine has gained popularity due to its anti-viral efficacy in in-vitro and animal models of SARS-CoV2 15,[40][41][42][43] .…”

“…Intra-nasal corticosteroid spray for the recovery of the sense of smell is in clinical trials for COVID-19 patients 13 . Since pharmaceutical drugs may have many off-target effects, therapeutics based on herbal extracts have recently gained much attention [14][15][16][17] . Here, we evaluated the efficacy of two Ayurvedic intra-nasal (herbal) oil ; see the enclosed supplement information).…”