Natural products for COVID‐19 prevention and treatment regarding to previous coronavirus infections and novel studies

Abstract

Recently, the novel life‐threatening coronavirus infection (COVID‐19) was reported at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, and spread throughout the world in little time. The effective antiviral activities of natural products have been proved in different studies. In this review, regarding the effective herbal treatments on other coronavirus infections, promising natural products for COVID‐19 treatment are suggested. An extensive search in Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, ISI, and Scopus was done with search words include coronavirus, COVID‐19, SARS, MERS, natural product, herb, plant, and extract. The consumption of herbal medicine such as Allium sativum, Camellia sinensis, Zingiber officinale, Nigella sativa, Echinacea spp. Hypericum perforatum, and Glycyrrhiza glabra, Scutellaria baicalensis can improve the immune response. It seems that different types of terpenoids have promising effects in viral replication inhibition and could be introduced for future studies. Additionally, some alkaloid structures such as homoharringtonine, lycorine, and emetine have strong anti‐coronavirus effects. Natural products can inhibit different coronavirus targets such as S protein (emodin, baicalin) and viral enzymes replication such as 3CLpro (Iguesterin), PLpro (Cryptotanshinone), helicase (Silvestrol), and RdRp (Sotetsuflavone). Based on previous studies, natural products can be introduced as preventive and therapeutic agents in the fight against coronavirus.

Dietary Supplements during COVID-19 Outbreak. Results of Google Trends Analysis Supported by PLifeCOVID-19 Online Studies

“…Indeed, there is some scientific evidence on immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiviral properties of several bioactive compounds and foods, including vitamins D and C, zinc, selenium, garlic, ginger, turmeric, lactoferrin, elderberry, or Nigella sativa , however they cannot be freely extrapolated to the effects on the SARS-CoV-2 virus [ 9 , 11 , 14 , 22 , 23 , 34 ]. Recently, the compounds like vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, probiotics, curcumin, quercetin have been extensively studied in the context of coronavirus [ 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

“…Shortly, in the present study, we searched topics related to coronavirus, immune system, dietary supplements, nutrients, bioactive compounds, and foods related to dietary supplements and immune system. We chose those topics based on literature searches [ 11 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 22 , 23 ] and results obtained within the PLifeCOVID-19 Online Study which we conducted in April–May 2020 [ 24 , 25 ]. We searched those topics separately (non-adjusted data), as well as each topic in comparison to the topic “lutein” (adjusted data) which allowed to compare the popularity of all searched topics.…”

Natural and Nature-Derived Products Targeting Human Coronaviruses

“…It was found that NPs/SMs are a rich source of drug potential leads against coronaviruses due to their pronounced structural diversity and complexity. Several compilations of pre-2020 findings on NPs/SMs with activity against coronaviruses were recently reported, some of which could serve as leads for the development of new drugs [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Among the identified molecules the majority is represented by NPs ( Figure 2 a) and most of them have been found as inhibitors of SARS-CoV ( Figure 2 b).…”

A Scoping Insight on Potential Prophylactics, Vaccines and Therapeutic Weaponry for the Ongoing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic- A Comprehensive Review

“…The use of herbal-based treatment can be patient-specific and will be more beneficial and effective than other drugs ( Divya et al, 2020 ). Because of the homology between the two viruses (SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV), it is suspected to have the inherent potential that will be effective for suppressing COVID-19 symptoms ( Boozari and Hosseinzadeh, 2020 ). Vitamin C may be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection by validating its efficacy through clinical trial studies.…”