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Review
. 2021 Jun 8;11(6):855.
doi: 10.3390/biom11060855.

Can Antiviral Activity of Licorice Help Fight COVID-19 Infection?

Luisa Diomede  1 , Marten Beeg  1 , Alessio Gamba  2 , Oscar Fumagalli  1 , Marco Gobbi  1 , Mario Salmona  1
Affiliations
Review

Can Antiviral Activity of Licorice Help Fight COVID-19 Infection?

Luisa Diomede et al. Biomolecules. .

Abstract

The phytotherapeutic properties of Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) extract are mainly attributed to glycyrrhizin (GR) and glycyrrhetinic acid (GA). Among their possible pharmacological actions, the ability to act against viruses belonging to different families, including SARS coronavirus, is particularly important. With the COVID-19 emergency and the urgent need for compounds to counteract the pandemic, the antiviral properties of GR and GA, as pure substances or as components of licorice extract, attracted attention in the last year and supported the launch of two clinical trials. In silico docking studies reported that GR and GA may directly interact with the key players in viral internalization and replication such as angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), spike protein, the host transmembrane serine protease 2, and 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease. In vitro data indicated that GR can interfere with virus entry by directly interacting with ACE2 and spike, with a nonspecific effect on cell and viral membranes. Additional anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of GR cannot be excluded. These multiple activities of GR and licorice extract are critically re-assessed in this review, and their possible role against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 and the features of COVID-19 disease is discussed.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; enoxolone; glycyrrhetinic acid; glycyrrhizic acid; glycyrrhizin; licorice; liquorice; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

This study is part of a more than 30-year collaboration between Perfetti Van Melle S.P.A. and the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS (IRFMN). It essentially concerns scientific support for the group’s activities with particular regard to product safety, the working environment, and updating of legislation. M.S., L.D., M.G., O.F., A.G. and M.B. are employees of IRFMN. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Perfetti Van Melle S.P.A. has no role in the collection, analyses, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Network of potentially active compounds and their activities in licorice root extracts. The figure illustrates the active compounds (green circles) linked to their pharmacological activities (blue circles). The network is drawn using PyGraphViz and the “fdp” layout. In this representation, the most connected nodes are close together in the center of the network. GA and GR are the compounds with the most activities, and other compounds are on the sides of the network. GA and GR share many activities with other compounds. TPT is tetramethyl pyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylate.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proposed mechanisms in the antiviral effects of glycyrrhizin. Created with BioRender.com, accessed on 18 March 2021.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The possible effects of glycyrrhizin on the internalization of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the host cell, and its replication. Created with BioRender.com, accessed on 18 March 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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