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. 2023 Jan 18:9:1023997.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1023997. eCollection 2022.

The possible therapeutic role of curcumin and quercetin in the early-stage of COVID-19-Results from a pragmatic randomized clinical trial

Ikram Din Ujjan  1 , Saeed Khan  2 , Roohi Nigar  3 , Hammad Ahmed  4 , Sagheer Ahmad  5 , Amjad Khan  6
Affiliations

The possible therapeutic role of curcumin and quercetin in the early-stage of COVID-19-Results from a pragmatic randomized clinical trial

Ikram Din Ujjan et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Curcumin (CUR) and quercetin (QUE), two natural polyphenols, possess diverse biological activities including broad-spectrum antiviral, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects. Both CUR and QUE have shown inhibition of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in in vitro assays.

Objective: In the present study we aimed to assess the possible treatment benefits of a combined curcumin and quercetin (CUR-QUE) oral supplement, alongside standard of care (SOC), in the early-stage COVID-19 infection.

Methods: This was an exploratory, pragmatic, open-label, randomized controlled clinical trial, conducted at the Department of Pathology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, PK. The study compared the treatment effect of an oral CUR-QUE supplement plus SOC vs. SOC alone, in the early-stage/mild to moderately symptomatic COVID-19 outpatients. Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to CUR-QUE (n = 25) and control (n = 25) treatment groups. The CUR-QUE supplementation consisted of a daily intake of 168 mg curcumin and 260 mg quercetin, as two soft capsules, to be taken twice a day at home for 14 days.

Results: After one-week of treatment, most of the patients in the CUR-QUE group showed an expedited clearance of the viral infection i.e., 18 (72.0%) vs. 6 (24.0%) patients in the control group tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 in the nasal-oropharyngeal swab reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis (p = 0.0002). In addition, COVID-19-associated acute symptoms were also speedily resolved in the CUR-QUE treated patients, i.e., 10 (40.0%) vs. 4 (16.0%) patients in the control group (p = 0.061). The CUR-QUE supplementation therapy was well-tolerated by all 25 patients and no treatment-emergent effects or serious adverse events were reported.

Conclusion: The results revealed in this exploratory study suggest a possible therapeutic role of curcumin and quercetin in the early-stage of COVID-19. It is proposed that the two agents possibly acting in synergy, interfere the SARS-CoV-2 replication, and thus help a speedy recovery in the early-stage of COVID-19. Further research is highly encouraged.

Clinical trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, Identifier NCT04603690.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; curcumin; polyphenols; quercetin.

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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
Study CONSORT flow diagram.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Patient’s RT-PCR COVID-19 test at day 1 and follow-up 7 and day 14 in the two treatment arms. Two patients in the CUR-QUE arm abstained the day 7 test.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Patient’s COVID-19-associated symptoms at day 1 and follow-up day 7 in the two treatment arms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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