Coronaviruses and Nature's Pharmacy for the Relief of Coronavirus Disease 2019

Abstract

Current challenges to the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 should open new prospects in the search for novel drugs from medicinal plants and other natural products. This paper provides details of natural agents that inhibit human coronavirus entry into cells, general replication, and specific chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL^pro)-mediated replication. Medicinal plants, fungi, and marine organisms as remedies for human coronaviruses in China, Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa are described. Common species include Alnus japonica (Thunb.) Steud., Artemisia annua L., Artemisia apiacea Hance, Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge, Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J.Presl, edible brown algae Ecklonia cava Kjellman, Euphorbia neriifolia L., Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Lonicera japonica Thunb., Pelargonium sidoides DC., Polygonum cuspidatum Siebold & Zucc., Sanguisorba officinalis L., Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, Toona sinensis (Juss.) M.Roem., and Torreya nucifera (L.) Siebold & Zucc. At least fifty natural compounds, including alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, anthraquinones, lignins, and tannins, which inhibit various strains of human coronaviruses, are presented. Given the scarcity of efficacious and safe vaccines or drugs for coronavirus disease 2019, natural products are low-hanging fruits that should be harnessed as the new global frontier against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Keywords: COVID-19; Human respiratory infection; Natural inhibitors.