Leveraging knowledge of Asian herbal medicine and its active compounds as COVID-19 treatment and prevention

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 disease has led to a search for effective vaccines or drugs. However, insufficient vaccine supplies to meet global demand and no effective approved prescribed drugs for COVID-19 have led some people to consider the use of alternative or complementary medicines, such as traditional herbal medicine. Medicinal plants have various therapeutic properties that depend on the active compounds they contain. Obviously, herbal medicine has had an essential role in treatment and prevention during COVID-19 outbreak, especially in Asian cultures. Hence, we reviewed the uses of herbal medicine in Asian cultures and described the prominent families and species that are sources of antiviral agents against COVID-19 on the basis of case reports, community surveys, and guidelines available in the literature databases. Antiviral efficacy as determined in laboratory testing was assessed, and several promising active compounds with their molecular targets in cell models against SARS-CoV-2 viral infection will be discussed. Our review findings revealed the highly frequent use of Lamiaceae family members, Zingiber officinale, and Glycyrrhiza spp. as medicinal sources for treatment of COVID-19. In addition, several plant bioactive compounds derived from traditional herbal medicine, including andrographolide, panduratin A, baicalein, digoxin, and digitoxin, have shown potent SARS-CoV-2 antiviral activity as compared with some repurposed FDA-approved drugs. These commonly used plants and promising compounds are recommended for further exploration of their safety and efficacy against COVID-19.

Alkaloids and Alkaloid-Like Compounds are Potential Scaffolds of Antiviral Agents against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Virus

“…Recent work investigated natural products, which could block SARS-CoV-2 entry using HEK-293T cells overexpressing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (293T-ACE2 cells) for screening. 58 Among 188 natural compounds screened in this study, the alkaloids cepharanthine (56), hernandezine (57), tetrandrine (58), neferine (59), and SC171 (60) were found to be anti-SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitors (Figure 14). Compounds 56-59 are bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, which are metabolites of plants, and they have broad biological activities, particularly on anticancer property.…”

“…55 A review on Asian herbal medicines and their bioactive compounds covering many antiviral natural products from plants was recently reported. 56 A number of natural products, which have potential to treat RNA virus such as COVID-19 virus, were also reported in the recent review. 57 Antiviral alkaloids and alkaloid-like compounds isolated from natural resources, i.e.…”

“…Figure 14. Structures of cepharanthine(56), hernandezine(57), tetrandrine(58), neferine(59), and SC171(60) …”

Revisiting liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) as anti-inflammatory, antivirals and immunomodulators: Potential pharmacological applications with mechanistic insight.

“…G. glabra and its active components have been shown promising results to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection and can be useful in treating patients with COVID-19 as on scientific evidences collected from some of the recently published reviews ( Bailly and Vergoten, 2020 ; Fatima et al, 2020 ; Huaccho-Rojas et al, 2020 ; Jezova et al, 2020 ; Murck, 2020 ; Srivastava et al, 2020 ; Adithya et al, 2021 ; Boozari and Hosseinzadeh, 2021 ; Jalali et al, 2021 ; Khan et al, 2021 ; Idrees et al, 2021 ; Brendler et al, 2021 ; Diomede et al, 2021 ; Liana and Phanumartwiwath, 2021 ; Malekmohammad et al, 2021 ; Merarchi et al, 2021 ). Several mechanisms have been identified and have been depicted in figure 4 .…”

Research Progress in Pharmacological Activities and Applications of Cardiotonic Steroids

“…Some CTS drugs competitively inhibit ACE2 binding to the RBD, thereby blocking viral penetration into human lung cells and this process may occur early in the entry process (Caohuy et al, 2021). The mechanisms of CTS against SARS-CoV-2 differ from each other, such as ouabain inhibiting endocytosis at the viral entry stage, digitoxin inhibiting cytokine storm and digoxin inhibiting RNA synthesis (Liana and Phanumartwiwath, 2022).…”