The Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula Jing Guan Fang for Preventing SARS-CoV-2 Infection: From Clinical Observation to Basic Research

Yueh-Hsin Ping; Hsin Yeh; Li-Wei Chu; Zhi-Hu Lin; Yin-Chieh Hsu; Lie-Chwen Lin; Chung-Hua Hsu; Shu-Ling Fu; Tung-Yi Lin

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.744439

The Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula Jing Guan Fang for Preventing SARS-CoV-2 Infection: From Clinical Observation to Basic Research

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Mar 21:13:744439. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.744439. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yueh-Hsin Ping^{1

2}, Hsin Yeh³, Li-Wei Chu¹, Zhi-Hu Lin³, Yin-Chieh Hsu³, Lie-Chwen Lin⁴, Chung-Hua Hsu^{1

3

5}, Shu-Ling Fu³, Tung-Yi Lin^{3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department and Institute of Pharmacology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Institute of Biophotonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Institute of Traditional Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Branch of Linsen Chinese and Kunming, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Biomedical Industry Ph.D. Program, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

COVID-19 is a global epidemic. Developing adjuvant therapies which could prevent the virus from binding to cells may impair viral infection. This study produces a traditional Chinese medicine formula, Jing Guan Fang (JGF), based on ancient medical texts, and examines the efficacy and the mechanism by which JGF prevents viral infections. JGF reduces COVID-19 like symptoms. Functional studies show that JGF inhibits the formation of syncytium and reduces the formation of viral plaque. JGF is not toxic in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, JGF induces lysosomal-dependent ACE2 degradation and suppresses mRNA and the protein levels of TMPRSS2 in human lung WI-38 and MRC-5 cells. Mice that inhale JGF exhibit reduced ACE2 and TMPRSS2 protein levels in lung tissues. Together, these findings suggest that JGF may improve the COVID-19 like symptoms and inhibit viral infection. Moreover, JGF may be applicable as an adjuvant preventive strategy against SARS-CoV-2 infection in addition to the use of vaccines.

Keywords: ACE2; COVID-19; Chinese medicine decoction; Jing Guan Fang; TMPRSS2; prevention.

Grants and funding

The present work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 109-2327-B-010-005- to S-LF; MOST 109-2636-B-010-009—and MOST 110-2636-B-A49A-501 to T-YL; MOST 109-2320-B-010-034-MY3 and MOST 109-2327-B-400-004 to Y-HP) and from the National Yang-Ming University–Far Eastern Memorial Hospital Joint Research Program (110DN04 to Y-HP).