Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Mar 2021)
Progress of Plant Medicine Derived Extracts and Alkaloids on Modulating Viral Infections and Inflammation
Abstract
Huihui Ti,1– 3,* Zixi Zhuang,4,5,* Qian Yu,1 Shumei Wang2,3,6 1School of Clinical Pharmacy, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory of Digital Quality Evaluation of Chinese Materia Medica of State Administration of TCM, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China; 3Engineering & Technology Research Center for Chinese Materia Medica Quality of the Universities of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China; 4Key Laboratory of Molecular Target & Clinical Pharmacology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 511436, People’s Republic of China; 5Guangdong Institute of Analysis (China National Analytical Center, Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 510070, People’s Republic of China; 6School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qian Yu; Shumei Wang Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Viral infectious diseases are serious threats to human health in both developing and developed countries. Although there is the continued development of new drugs from synthetic sources as antiviral agents, medicinal plants continue to provide the basic raw materials for some of the most important antiviral drugs. Alkaloids are a class of pharmacologically active plant compounds that are usually alkaline in nature. In this review, we tried to summarize recent progress in herb-based antiviral research, the advantages of using active plant compounds as antiviral agents, and the inflammatory responses initiated by alkaloids, based on the literature from 2009 to 2019, for the treatment of conditions, including influenza, human immunodeficiency virus, herpes simplex virus, hepatitis, and coxsackievirus infections. Articles are retrieved from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science using relevant keywords. In particular, the alkaloids from medicinal plants responsible for the molecular mechanisms of anti-inflammatory actions are identified and discussed. This review can provide a theoretical basis and approaches for using various alkaloids as antiviral treatments. More research is needed to develop alkaloidal compounds as antiviral therapeutic agents and potential regulators of the anti-inflammatory response.Keywords: viral infectious diseases, alkaloids, antiviral, anti-inflammatory responses, antiviral therapeutic agents
