Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-0031, Japan.
Department of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21527, Egypt.
Molecules. 2021 Feb 25;26(5):1232. doi: 10.3390/molecules26051232.
Despite the virulence and high fatality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), no specific antiviral treatment exists until the current moment. Natural agents with immune-promoting potentials such as bee products are being explored as possible treatments. Bee honey and propolis are rich in bioactive compounds that express strong antimicrobial, bactericidal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and antioxidant activities. This review examined the literature for the anti-COVID-19 effects of bee honey and propolis, with the aim of optimizing the use of these handy products as prophylactic or adjuvant treatments for people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Molecular simulations show that flavonoids in propolis and honey (e.g., rutin, naringin, caffeic acid phenyl ester, luteolin, and artepillin C) may inhibit viral spike fusion in host cells, viral-host interactions that trigger the cytokine storm, and viral replication. Similar to the potent antiviral drug remdesivir, rutin, propolis ethanolic extract, and propolis liposomes inhibited non-structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and these compounds along with naringin inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection in Vero E6 cells. Propolis extracts delivered by nanocarriers exhibit better antiviral effects against SARS-CoV-2 than ethanolic extracts. In line, hospitalized COVID-19 patients receiving green Brazilian propolis or a combination of honey and exhibited earlier viral clearance, symptom recovery, discharge from the hospital as well as less mortality than counterparts receiving standard care alone. Thus, the use of bee products as an adjuvant treatment for COVID-19 may produce beneficial effects. Implications for treatment outcomes and issues to be considered in future studies are discussed.
尽管 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）具有很强的毒力和很高的死亡率，但直到目前为止，还没有特定的抗病毒治疗方法。具有免疫促进潜力的天然药物，如蜂产品，正在被探索作为可能的治疗方法。蜂蜜和蜂胶富含具有很强的抗菌、杀菌、抗病毒、抗炎、免疫调节和抗氧化活性的生物活性化合物。本综述研究了蜂蜜和蜂胶抗 COVID-19 的作用的文献，旨在优化这些方便的产品作为严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）感染人群的预防或辅助治疗。分子模拟表明，蜂胶和蜂蜜中的类黄酮（如芦丁、柚皮苷、咖啡酸苯酯、木樨草素和 Artepillin C）可能抑制病毒刺突在宿主细胞中的融合、触发细胞因子风暴的病毒-宿主相互作用以及病毒复制。与强效抗病毒药物瑞德西韦类似，芦丁、蜂胶乙醇提取物和蜂胶脂质体在体外抑制 SARS-CoV-2 的非结构蛋白，这些化合物与柚皮苷一起抑制 Vero E6 细胞中的 SARS-CoV-2 感染。纳米载体递送的蜂胶提取物对 SARS-CoV-2 的抗病毒作用优于乙醇提取物。同样，接受绿色巴西蜂胶或蜂蜜和 组合治疗的住院 COVID-19 患者比仅接受标准护理的患者更早清除病毒、恢复症状、出院，死亡率也更低。因此，将蜂产品作为 COVID-19 的辅助治疗方法可能会产生有益的效果。讨论了治疗结果的影响和未来研究中需要考虑的问题。
