The natural tannins oligomeric proanthocyanidins and punicalagin are potent inhibitors of infection by SARS-CoV-2
Hsiao-Fan Chen,
Wei-Jan Wang,
Chung-Yu Chen,
Wei-Chao Chang,
Po-Ren Hsueh,
Shin-Lei Peng,
Chen-Shiou Wu,
Yeh Chen,
Hsin-Yu Huang,
Wan-Jou Shen,
Shao-Chun Wang,
Mien-Chie Hung
Affiliations
Hsiao-Fan Chen
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Wei-Jan Wang
Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biological Science and Technology, College of Life Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Chung-Yu Chen
Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Wei-Chao Chang
Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Po-Ren Hsueh
Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Internal Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Shin-Lei Peng
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Neuroscience and Brain Disease Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Chen-Shiou Wu
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Yeh Chen
Department of Biological Science and Technology, College of Life Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Hsin-Yu Huang
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Wan-Jou Shen
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Shao-Chun Wang
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Cancer Biology and Precision Therapeutics Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Cancer Biology and Precision Therapeutics Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to infect people worldwide. While the vaccinated population has been increasing, the rising breakthrough infection persists in the vaccinated population. For living with the virus, the dietary guidelines to prevent virus infection are worthy of and timely to develop further. Tannic acid has been demonstrated to be an effective inhibitor of coronavirus and is under clinical trial. Here we found that two other members of the tannins family, oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) and punicalagin, are also potent inhibitors against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection with different mechanisms. OPCs and punicalagin showed inhibitory activity against omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The water extractant of the grape seed was rich in OPCs and also exhibited the strongest inhibitory activities for viral entry of wild-type and other variants in vitro. Moreover, we evaluated the inhibitory activity of grape seed extractants (GSE) supplementation against SARS-CoV-2 viral entry in vivo and observed that serum samples from the healthy human subjects had suppressive activity against different variants of SARS-CoV-2 Vpp infection after taking GSE capsules. Our results suggest that natural tannins acted as potent inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and GSE supplementation could serve as healthy food for infection prevention.
