Title:Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Plants and their Possible Effect as Therapeutic Agents against COVID-19: A Review
Volume: 17
Issue: 6
Author(s): Khairan Khairan*, Rinaldi Idroes, Trina E. Tallei, Muhammad J. Nasim and Claus Jacob
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh 23111,Indonesia
Keywords:
Medicinal plants, bioactive compounds, therapeutic agents, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, COVID-19.
Abstract:
Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has
infected more than 117 million people worldwide and caused almost 2.6 million deaths.
Currently, the appropriate therapeutic drugs are not yet available to treat diseases caused by this
coronavirus infection. This is due to the fact that discoveries and developments of new
medications require a lot of time and resources. The alternative solution for this viral infection is
to utilize medicinal plant-based bioactive compounds as therapeutic agents to fight against
COVID-19.
Methods: Herein, through an extensive search of the literature, we reviewed the potential of some
bioactive compounds from medicinal plants as therapeutic agents against COVID-19. The results
of this review still require further investigation to clinically validate them, either in vitro or in
vivo, in order to find the effective antiviral drugs from medicinal plants for COVID-19 treatment.
Results: From a total of 60 identified medicinal plants, 50 of them have possible effects as
therapeutic agents against particular target proteins encoded by the coronavirus genes such as
Nsp1, Nsp3 (Nsp3b, Nsp3c, PLpro and Nsp3e), Nsp7-Nsp8, Nsp9-Nsp10, Nsp14-Nsp16
complexes, 3CLpro, E protein, ORF7a, Spike (S) glycoprotein, C-terminal RNA binding domain
(CRBD), N-terminal RNA binding domain (NRBD), helicase and RdRp. The most common
bioactive compounds from the medicinal plants as therapeutic agents for COVID-19 treatment
were flavonoid compounds.
Conclusion: Medicinal plants can serve as starting points for therapeutic agent development
against some target proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Nevertheless, the results require clinical validation,
either in vitro or in vivo, for COVID-19 treatment.
