Potential mechanism underlying the effect of matrine on COVID-19 patients revealed through network pharmacological approaches and molecular docking analysis

Abstract

(2020): Potential mechanism underlying the effect of matrine on COVID-19 patients revealed through network pharmacological approaches and molecular docking analysis, Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry,

Traditional Chinese medicine in COVID-19

“…Glycyrrhizin is an anti-viral agent and clinically used anti-inflammatory ingredient from Glycyrrhiza uralensis (Gancao) was determined to elevate immunity and suppress inflammatory stress through T cell receptor and VEGF signaling pathways 141 , 159 , 173 . Matrine was not only predicted to suppress host cell apoptosis and inflammation by targeting the TNF- α , IL-6, and CASP3 in the TNF signaling, but also validated to reduce lung tissue damage and lung index by decreasing the production of IL-6, IL-10, TNF- α , and IFN- γ , increasing the percentage of CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells, and B cells in peripheral blood, and lessening viral load in lung tissue in a mouse model combining human coronavirus pneumonia with cold‒dampness pestilence attacking the lung 112 , 113 . Although systems pharmacology is a convenient and effective tool to propose the mechanism of action of TCM at a holistic level, all the results above need to be further validated.…”

“…According to sequence alignment and homology modeling, the critical targets of spike, 3C-like protease (3CLpro), papain-like protease (PLpro), and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) protease share 76%, 96%, 83%, 96% sequence similarity between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, respectively 85 , 86 , 87 . We collected and summarized TCMs and their ingredients to reveal the specific mechanisms of TCM for the three phases of distinct disease stages of COVID-19 42 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 144 , 145 , 146 , 147 , …”

Chinese herbal medicine: Fighting SARS-CoV-2 infection on all fronts

“…As with ACE2 and M pro , RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is another primary target associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection ( Gao et al, 2020b ). Based on molecular docking experiments, Peng et al revealed that matrine exhibits a high binding potential to RdRp (−6.3 kcal/mol), M pro (−5.8 kcal/mol), and ACE2 (−6.1 kcal/mol) in SARS-CoV-2 ( Peng et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, matrine could be used to treat COVID-19 by suppressing SARS-CoV-2 replication and by regulating inflammatory responses ( Peng et al, 2020 ) .…”

Uncommon Bis-Amide Matrine-type Alkaloids From Sophora alopecuroides With Anti-inflammatory Effects

“…Interestingly, we have noticed that almost all structural modifications were concentrated in the variations of D ring, such as introducing substituents to C-13 and C-14 sites, opening D ring, fusing D ring and further molecular simplification. However, the amide bond located at D ring is a critical part that can responsible for many biological activities according to the molecular docking analysis ( Peng et al, 2020 ). It is necessary to search more matrine-type template for the development of structural modification strategy.…”