Title:Natural Products as Inhibitors of Coronavirus: An Update
Volume: 5
Issue: 4
Author(s): Ritu Kalia, Akash Dey and Sanjay M. Jachak*
Affiliation:
- Department of Natural Products, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Sector 67,
S.A.S. Nagar, 160062, Punjab, India
Keywords:
Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, natural products, indian medicinal plants, structure-activity relationship.
Abstract: In the past couple of decades, several corona virus infections have alarmed the world
claiming deaths of huge population over the globe. Effective anti-viral agents have been researched
for treatment of COVID-19 infection. Vaccination has come up as an ultimate prevention against
SARS-CoV-2virus as many vaccines have been recommended by WHO to be used for prevention
from COVID-19. Alternative treatment strategies to combat infection include drug repurposing as
well as supportive therapies. Traditional medicines being used from ancient times for different disease
conditions provide a wealth of chemical diversity. Different classes of natural products are being
utilized to study their antiviral properties and contributed in past for different viral diseases. The
aim of current review is to enumerate different secondary metabolites and their pharmacophoric features
against corona viruses that can be further optimized to develop more potent inhibitors specific
to SARS-CoV-2. This review systematically evaluates natural products and their synthetic/ semisynthetic
analogs belonging to terpenoids, polyphenols, saponins, and alkaloids having antiviral activity
against coronaviruses. The information obtained from scope of Indian medicinal plants is also
discussed which may be evaluated in future against SARS-CoV-2. Thus, it is proposed that the natural
products may be used to develop potential inhibitors using the knowledge gained from similar
studies to prevent morbidity and mortalities due to SARS-CoV-2.
