Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Apr;34(4):742-768.
doi: 10.1002/ptr.6575. Epub 2019 Dec 19.

Antiviral activity of plants and their isolated bioactive compounds: An update

Marcella Denaro  1 , Antonella Smeriglio  1 , Davide Barreca  1 , Clara De Francesco  1 , Cristina Occhiuto  1 , Giada Milano  1 , Domenico Trombetta  1
Affiliations
Review

Antiviral activity of plants and their isolated bioactive compounds: An update

Marcella Denaro et al. Phytother Res. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Viral infections represent one of the main causes of disease worldwide, especially today due to the increase of migration, global travel, and urbanization. The several side effects of the conventional drugs and the growing phenomenon of resistance have led researchers to turn to the plant kingdom as a source of potential new antiviral drugs. The aim of this work is to summarize the updated evidence for antiviral activity of different plants and their isolated bioactive compounds, evaluating also the potential interactions, which can occur in cotreatment with conventional antiviral drugs. The plant complexes have proved to be usually more active than their most abundant isolated compounds by hypothesizing synergistic mechanisms. In addition to cellular and molecular investigations, molecular docking studies have proved essential in highlighting the interaction mechanisms of bioactive compounds with target molecules. However, the use of nonstandardized extracts, or too high concentrations in vitro, which do not reproduce their bioavailability in vivo, are often limiting factors. Moreover, the lack of studies concerning the safety profile of plant extracts and their isolated compounds, alone or in combination with conventional antiviral drugs, is the most worrying aspect. In light of this, further studies are needed to validate their possible therapeutic use.

Keywords: hepatitis C virus; herpes virus; human immunodeficiency; influenza virus; plant extracts; polyphenols.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Aarthi, S., Radha, G., Lifang, H., John, D., Richard, W., Girishl, K., & Mark, S. (2010). Influenza virus variation in susceptibility to inactivation by pomegranate polyphenols is determined by envelope glycoproteins. Antiviral Research, 88, 1-9.
    1. Abba, Y., Hassim, H., Hamzah, H., & Noordin, M. M. (2015). Antiviral activity of resveratrol against human and animal viruses. Advances in Virology, 2015, 184241.
    1. Akram, M., Tahir, I. M., Shah, S. M. A., Mahmood, Z., Altaf, A., Ahmad, K., … Mehboob, H. (2018). Antiviral potential of medicinal plants against HIV, HSV, influenza, hepatitis, and coxsackievirus: A systematic review. Phytotherapy Research, 32(5), 811-822.
    1. Amber, R., Adnan, M., Tariq, A., & Mussarat, S. (2017). A review on antiviral activity of the Himalayan medicinal plants traditionally used to treat bronchitis and related symptoms. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 69(2), 109-122.
    1. Andrae-Marobela, K., Ghislain, F. W., Okatch, H., & Majinda, R. R. (2013). Polyphenols: A diverse class of multi-target anti-HIV-1 agents. Current Drug Metabolism, 14(4), 392-413.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources