Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2023 May 23;308:116291. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2023.116291. Epub 2023 Feb 18.
Artemisia annua L. has >2000 yr of history in treating fever a symptom common to many infectious diseases including viruses. The plant is widely used as a tea infusion in many areas of the globe to thwart many infectious diseases.
The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus continues to infect millions while rapidly evolving new variants that are more transmissible and evade vaccine-elicited antibodies, e.g., omicron and its subvariants. Having shown potency against all previously tested variants, A. annua L. extracts were further tested against highly infectious omicron and its recent subvariants.
Using Vero E6 cells, we measured the in vitro efficacy (IC) of stored (frozen) dried-leaf hot-water A. annua L. extracts of four cultivars (A3, BUR, MED, and SAM) against SARS-CoV-2 variants: original WA1 (WT), BA.1 (omicron), BA.2, BA.2.12.1, and BA.4. End point virus titers of infectivity in cv. BUR-treated human lung A459 cells overexpressing hu-ACE2 were determined for both WA1 and BA.4 viruses.
When normalized to the artemisinin (ART) or leaf dry weight (DW) equivalent of the extract, the IC values ranged from 0.5 to 16.5 μM ART and from 20 to 106 μg DW. IC values were within limits of assay variation of our earlier studies. End-point titers confirmed a dose-response inhibition in ACE2 overexpressing human lung cells to the BUR cultivar. Cell viability losses were not measurable at leaf dry weights ≤50 μg for any cultivar extract.
A. annua hot-water extracts (tea infusions) continue to show efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 and its rapidly evolving variants and deserve greater attention as a possible cost-effective therapeutic.
植物青蒿已有 2000 多年的历史，被广泛用于治疗发热症状，而发热是许多传染病（包括病毒）的共同症状。该植物在全球许多地区被广泛用作茶饮，以抵御许多传染病。
SARS-CoV-2（COVID-19）病毒继续感染数百万人，同时迅速进化出新的变体，这些变体更具传染性，并逃避疫苗诱导的抗体，例如奥密克戎及其亚变体。青蒿提取物已被证明对所有以前测试过的变体均有效，因此进一步针对高传染性的奥密克戎及其最近的亚变体进行了测试。
使用 Vero E6 细胞，我们测量了四种栽培品种（A3、BUR、MED 和 SAM）的冷藏（冷冻）干叶青蒿热水提取物对 SARS-CoV-2 变体的体外功效（IC）：原始 WA1（WT）、BA.1（奥密克戎）、BA.2、BA.2.12.1 和 BA.4。在过表达 hu-ACE2 的人肺 A459 细胞中，用 cv. BUR 处理后，测定了 WA1 和 BA.4 病毒的终点病毒感染力滴度。
当按提取物中的青蒿素（ART）或叶干重（DW）当量归一化时，IC 值范围为 0.5 至 16.5 μM ART 和 20 至 106 μg DW。IC 值在我们早期研究的测定变异性范围内。终点滴度证实了在过表达 ACE2 的人肺细胞中，BUR 栽培品种对病毒的剂量反应抑制。在任何栽培品种提取物的叶干重≤50μg 时，细胞活力损失均不可测量。
青蒿热水提取物（茶饮）对 SARS-CoV-2 及其快速进化的变体仍有效，作为一种可能具有成本效益的治疗方法值得进一步关注。
