Department of Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University, M. Curie 9, 85-090 Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Department of Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University, M. Curie 9, 85-090 Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Nov;143:112150. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.112150. Epub 2021 Sep 2.
The COVID-19 epidemic is the greatest pandemic that human kind experienced for decades, with high morbidity and mortality. Despite recent development of vaccines there is still many severe cases of COVID-19. Unfortunately there is still no standardized therapies and treatment of severe cases is very challenging. The aim of this study is to indicate if herbs administered alone or as a complementary therapy could be used as prophylaxis or treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Over 85% of patients with COVID-19 in China used Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and a most common herb is Glycyrrhiza glabra, which in vitro inhibits replication of different enveloped viruses, including coronaviruses. Glycyrrhizin in vitro connects and changes conformation of ACE2 receptors, which are vital for SARS-CoV-2 penetration into host cells. Pelargonium sidoides show immunomodulatory and antiviral properties in clinical and in vitro studies, and it inhibits replication of HCo-229E coronavirus. Glycyrrhiza glabra in combination with standard therapies significantly reduces the hospitalization rate and occurrence of COVID-19 symptoms. As complementary therapies lianhuaqingwen capsules and jinhua qinggan granules reduces hospitalization rates, time to symptoms recovery and improve patient psychological comfort. In view of SARS-CoV-2 other herbs are not effective, e.g. maxingshigan-yinqiaosan, or therapeutic concentration would be impossible to achieve, e.g. ephedra herb, or there is simply no proper data. Therefore, Liquorice and Pelargonium sidoides are effective against coronaviruses and could be possibly used as prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19, while lianhuaqingwen capsules and jinhua qinggan granules can be useful as a complementary therapy to conventional treatment.
COVID-19 疫情是几十年来人类经历的最大的大流行病，其发病率和死亡率都很高。尽管最近开发了疫苗，但仍有许多 COVID-19 重症病例。不幸的是，目前仍然没有标准化的治疗方法，重症病例的治疗极具挑战性。本研究旨在表明单独使用或作为辅助疗法的草药是否可用于预防或治疗 SARS-CoV-2 感染。在中国，超过 85%的 COVID-19 患者使用了中药（TCM），最常见的草药是甘草，其在体外抑制多种包膜病毒的复制，包括冠状病毒。甘草苷在体外连接并改变 ACE2 受体的构象，这对 SARS-CoV-2 进入宿主细胞至关重要。贯叶连翘在临床和体外研究中具有免疫调节和抗病毒作用，可抑制 HCo-229E 冠状病毒的复制。甘草与标准疗法联合使用可显著降低住院率和 COVID-19 症状的发生率。作为辅助疗法，连花清瘟胶囊和金花清感颗粒可降低住院率、症状恢复时间并改善患者心理舒适度。鉴于 SARS-CoV-2 对其他草药无效，例如麻杏石甘汤，或治疗浓度不可能达到，例如麻黄草，或者根本没有适当的数据。因此，甘草和贯叶连翘对冠状病毒有效，可能可用于 COVID-19 的预防和治疗，而连花清瘟胶囊和金花清感颗粒可作为常规治疗的辅助疗法。
