REVIEW
Bioactive natural compounds against human coronaviruses: a review and perspective

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.06.002Get rights and content
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Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoVs), a family of enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses, are characterized by club-like spikes that project from their surface, unusually large RNA genome, and unique replication capability. CoVs are known to cause various potentially lethal human respiratory infectious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and the very recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Unfortunately, neither drug nor vaccine has yet been approved to date to prevent and treat these diseases caused by CoVs. Therefore, effective prevention and treatment medications against human coronavirus are in urgent need. In the past decades, many natural compounds have been reported to possess multiple biological activities, including antiviral properties. In this article, we provided a comprehensive review on the natural compounds that interfere with the life cycles of SARS and MERS, and discussed their potential use for the treatment of COVID-19.

Graphical abstract

Chinese herbal medicines and natural compounds possess promising antiviral effects against Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) and provide a rich resource for novel antiviral drug development. This review provides an update on natural compounds against HCoVs and summarizes the active natural compounds and their possible action mechanisms.

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Key words

Natural compounds
Coronavirus
RNA-Virus
MERS-CoV
SARS-CoV
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19

Abbreviations

ACE2
angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
BALF
bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
CoVs
coronaviruses
COVID-19
coronavirus disease 2019
DAT
desaminotyrosine
ER
endoplasmic reticulum
ERGIC
endoplasmic reticulum–Golgi intermediate compartment
HCoVs
human coronaviruses
HLH
hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
HR
heptad repeats
HSV
herpes simplex virus
IL
interleukin
LHQWC
Lian-Hua-Qing-Wen Capsule
MERS
Middle East respiratory syndrome
MERS-CoV
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
MAPK
mitogen-activated protein kinase
N protein
nucleocapsid protein
NF-κB
nuclear factor-κB
NCIP
novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia
PLpro
papain-like protease
PI3K
phosphoinositide 3-kinases
RTC
replication transcription complex
S protein
spike protein
RdRp
RNA-dependent RNA polymerase
SARS
severe acute respiratory syndrome
SARS-CoV
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
STAT
signal transducer and activator of transcription
TCM
traditional Chinese medicine
WHO
World Health Organization
3CLpro
chymotrypsin-like protease

Cited by (0)

Peer review under responsibility of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

†

These authors made equal contributions to this work.

© 2020 Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.