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Review
. 2022 Jan 20:12:784335.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.784335. eCollection 2021.

Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae as a Respiratory Medicine: Is There a Potential Drug in the Treatment of COVID-19?

Yunyun Quan  1   2 , Li Li  1 , Zhujun Yin  1 , Shilong Chen  1 , Jing Yi  1 , Jirui Lang  1 , Lu Zhang  1 , Qianhua Yue  1 , Junning Zhao  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae as a Respiratory Medicine: Is There a Potential Drug in the Treatment of COVID-19?

Yunyun Quan et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae (BFC) is one of the most used Chinese medicines for lung disease, and exerts antitussive, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, anti-asthmatic, and antioxidant effects, which is an ideal therapeutic drug for respiratory diseases such as ARDS, COPD, asthma, lung cancer, and pulmonary tuberculosis. Through this review, it is found that the therapeutic mechanism of BFC on respiratory diseases exhibits the characteristics of multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-signaling pathways. In particular, the therapeutic potential of BFC in terms of intervention of "cytokine storm", STAT, NF-κB, and MAPK signaling pathways, as well as the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) that ACE is involved in. In the "cytokine storm" of SARS-CoV-2 infection there is an intense inflammatory response. ACE2 regulates the RAS by degradation of Ang II produced by ACE, which is associated with SARS-CoV-2. For COVID-19, may it be a potential drug? This review summarized the research progress of BFC in the respiratory diseases, discussed the development potentiality of BFC for the treatment of COVID-19, explained the chemical diversity and biological significance of the alkaloids in BFC, and clarified the material basis, molecular targets, and signaling pathways of BFC for the respiratory diseases. We hope this review can provide insights on the drug discovery of anti-COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; alkaloids; bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae; respiratory diseases; signaling pathways; targets.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
SARS-CoV-2 and the respiratory diseases, biological processes, and symptoms that BFC have an effect on. (A) is the 3D and 2D structure of SARS-CoV-2 with its composition. (B) is F. unibracteata, one of the plant sources of BFC with its bulbus. (C) is the symptoms that BFC can relieve. (D) is the respiratory diseases and correlative biological processes that can be intervened by BFC.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress signaling pathways of BFC.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The molecular mechanism of BFC for the inhibitory effect on asthma and bronchial inflammation.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The mechanism of BFC in the treatment of COPD.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The mechanism of BFC in the treatment of ARDS.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
The mechanism of BFC in the treatment of lung cancer.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
The mechanism of BFC in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) that BFC compounds influence.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
BFC exhibits the characteristics of regulating the “cytokine storm”.
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 10
The main related signaling pathways of BFC’s effect on respiratory diseases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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