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
. 2023 Feb 13;18(1):13.
doi: 10.1186/s13020-023-00715-x.

Advances in natural product anti-coronavirus research (2002-2022)

Jiaxin Chen  1 , Zuoqi Ding  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Advances in natural product anti-coronavirus research (2002-2022)

Jiaxin Chen et al. Chin Med. .

Abstract

COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus that has triggered acute respiratory infections in countries around the world. In the last 20 years, there have been several outbreaks of coronaviruses, which have had a tremendous impact on productive life and globalization. Since coronaviruses are mutagenic and highly susceptible to mutation, there are no specific drugs against coronaviruses. Medicines made from natural products gains worldwide attention, and the mechanism and effectiveness of natural products for the treatment of coronavirus-related diseases have received much attention after the global pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020. The vitro research results and clinical data from various countries have shown protective effects of good effects against coronaviruses. This review summarizes representative natural products for the treatment of coronavirus-related diseases in the past 20 years, and demonstrates the promising prospects of natural products against coronavirus-related diseases by listing herbal formulas, Chinese patent medicines and natural small molecule compounds and their therapeutic mechanisms, providing references for subsequent related studies.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Coronavirus pneumonia; Natural medicines; Traditional Chinese medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Plague and related treatment protocols were recorded in Chinese medical books of various dynasties, as early as hundreds of years ago, the Chinese people had a deep understanding of epidemics
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Article production and author distribution of natural products against coronavirus. The figure shows that the number of articles on natural products against COVID-19 has increased significantly from 2020, with the majority of authors coming from India, China and the USA
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The process of viral invasion into the cells of the body, natural products block coronavirus invasion by occupying ACE2 receptors and inhibits viral replication via 3CL pro
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The anti-inflammatory mechanism of natural products against cytokine storm. Natural products protect the organism by inhibiting the cytokine storm triggered by coronavirus, which can affect organs
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The mechanism of natural products inhibiting inflammation through NF-κB signaling pathway. Natural products control inflammation by inhibiting NF-κB activation and IκB degradation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Health Emergency Office: Bulletin of Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on Viral pneumonia of Unknown Cause. http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/yqtb/202001/http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/yqtb/202....
    1. Wang Z, Shen Q, Liu X-Y, Hou Y, Cao D-H, Liu H. Jiang, Du H-Z. Isochlorogenic acid (ICGA): natural medicine with potentials in pharmaceutical developments. Chin J Nat Med. 2020;18:860–71. - PubMed
    1. WHO: More than 615.77 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide. http://www.cneb.gov.cn/yjxw/gjxw/20221005/t20221005_526028516.html.
    1. Mishra N, Nair V, Tripathi Y. Pathak, Majeed J. History, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. (COVID-19) Coronaviruses. 2022;3:65–72.
    1. Mahy B. The molecular biology of coronaviruses. US: Springer; 1987.

LinkOut - more resources