Thimmulappa Rajesh K, Mudnakudu-Nagaraju Kiran Kumar, Shivamallu Chandan, Subramaniam K J Thirumalai, Radhakrishnan Arun, Bhojraj Suresh, Kuppusamy Gowthamarajan
Department of Biochemistry, JSS Medical College, JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysore, India.
Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Life Sciences, JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysore, India.
Heliyon. 2021 Feb;7(2):e06350. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06350. Epub 2021 Feb 22.
Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), a devastating respiratory illness caused by SARS-associated coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has already affected over 64 million people and caused 1.48 million deaths, just 12 months from the first diagnosis. COVID-19 patients develop serious complications, including severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and or multiorgan failure due to exaggerated host immune response following infection. Currently, drugs that were effective against SARS-CoV are being repurposed for SARS-CoV-2. During this public health emergency, food nutraceuticals could be promising prophylactic therapeutics for COVID-19. Curcumin, a bioactive compound in turmeric, exerts diverse pharmacological activities and is widely used in foods and traditional medicines. This review presents several lines of evidence, which suggest curcumin as a promising prophylactic, therapeutic candidate for COVID-19. First, curcumin exerts antiviral activity against many types of enveloped viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, by multiple mechanisms: direct interaction with viral membrane proteins; disruption of the viral envelope; inhibition of viral proteases; induce host antiviral responses. Second, curcumin protects from lethal pneumonia and ARDS via targeting NF-κB, inflammasome, IL-6 trans signal, and HMGB1 pathways. Third, curcumin is safe and well-tolerated in both healthy and diseased human subjects. In conclusion, accumulated evidence indicates that curcumin may be a potential prophylactic therapeutic for COVID-19 in the clinic and public health settings.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）是由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的一种毁灭性呼吸系统疾病，自首次诊断仅12个月以来，已经影响了超过6400万人，并导致148万人死亡。COVID-19患者会出现严重并发症，包括重症肺炎、急性呼吸窘迫综合征（ARDS），以及由于感染后宿主免疫反应过度而导致的多器官功能衰竭。目前，对SARS-CoV有效的药物正在被重新用于治疗SARS-CoV-2。在这次突发公共卫生事件期间，食品营养保健品可能是COVID-19有前景的预防性治疗药物。姜黄素是姜黄中的一种生物活性化合物，具有多种药理活性，广泛应用于食品和传统药物中。这篇综述提供了几条证据线索，表明姜黄素是COVID-19有前景的预防性、治疗性候选药物。首先，姜黄素通过多种机制对包括SARS-CoV-2在内的多种包膜病毒发挥抗病毒活性：与病毒膜蛋白直接相互作用；破坏病毒包膜；抑制病毒蛋白酶；诱导宿主抗病毒反应。其次，姜黄素通过靶向核因子κB（NF-κB）、炎性小体、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）转信号和高迁移率族蛋白B1（HMGB1）通路来预防致死性肺炎和ARDS。第三，姜黄素在健康和患病的人类受试者中都是安全且耐受性良好的。总之，积累的证据表明姜黄素在临床和公共卫生环境中可能是COVID-19的一种潜在预防性治疗药物。
