Can <i>Artemisia herba-alba</i> Be Useful for Managing COVID-19 and Comorbidities?
Anamul Hasan,
Partha Biswas,
Tohmina Afroze Bondhon,
Khoshnur Jannat,
Tridib K. Paul,
Alok K. Paul,
Rownak Jahan,
Veeranoot Nissapatorn,
Tooba Mahboob,
Polrat Wilairatana,
Md Nazmul Hasan,
Maria de Lourdes Pereira,
Christophe Wiart,
Mohammed Rahmatullah
Affiliations
Anamul Hasan
Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
Partha Biswas
Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh
Tohmina Afroze Bondhon
Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
Khoshnur Jannat
Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
Tridib K. Paul
Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
Alok K. Paul
School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Rownak Jahan
Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
Veeranoot Nissapatorn
School of Allied Health Sciences, World Union for Herbal Drug Discovery (WUHeDD) and Research Excellence Center for Innovation and Health Products (RECIHP), Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand
Tooba Mahboob
School of Allied Health Sciences, World Union for Herbal Drug Discovery (WUHeDD) and Research Excellence Center for Innovation and Health Products (RECIHP), Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand
Polrat Wilairatana
Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Md Nazmul Hasan
Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh
Maria de Lourdes Pereira
CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials and Department of Medical Sciences, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Christophe Wiart
The Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Mohammed Rahmatullah
Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
The focus of this roadmap is to evaluate the possible efficacy of Artemisia herba-alba Asso. (Asteraceae) for the treatment of COVID-19 and some of its symptoms and several comorbidities using a combination of in silico (molecular docking) studies, reported ethnic uses, and pharmacological activity studies of this plant. In this exploratory study, we show that various phytochemicals from Artemisia herba-alba can be useful against COVID-19 (in silico studies) and for its associated comorbidities. COVID-19 is a new disease, so reports of any therapeutic treatments against it (traditional or conventional) are scanty. On the other hand, we demonstrate, using Artemisia herba-alba as an example, that through a proper search and identification of medicinal plant(s) and their phytochemicals identification using secondary data (published reports) on the plant’s ethnic uses, phytochemical constituents, and pharmacological activities against COVID-19 comorbidities and symptoms coupled with the use of primary data obtained from in silico (molecular docking and molecular dynamics) studies on the binding of the selected plant’s phytochemicals (such as: rutin, 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, and schaftoside) with various vital components of SARS-CoV-2, it may be possible to rapidly identify plants that are suitable for further research regarding therapeutic use against COVID-19 and its associated symptoms and comorbidities.
