Curcumin: Boosting the immunity of COVID-19-vaccinated populations

Abstract

The ongoing, highly infectious COVID-19 pandemic has prompted various drugs, vaccines, and phytochemical research to control the disease. The accelerated development of vaccines showed the importance of immune boosters against the virus. This study aims to elucidate the role of curcumin, a phytochemical with an immunoediting profile potentially able to boost immunity after vaccination. Eighty participants were enrolled to receive curcumin supplementation (n = 40) and without (n = 40) after the first vaccination until 4 weeks after the second vaccination. Total antibody formation for SARS-CoV-2 was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay 4 weeks after the second vaccination. The average antibody formed in groups treated with curcumin supplementation showed a statistically significant increase compared to the control group (262.6 ± 324.2 vs. 42.8 ± 53.5, P < 0.01). Age, sex, and comorbidities did not affect the production of antibodies within groups. Curcumin showed potential as a complementary supplementation during the period of vaccination as it can increase antibodies produced post vaccinations. Further investigation should be conducted on more subjects and a longer period in concordance to vaccine boosters and emerging new variants.

Keywords

• covid-19 vaccines
• curcumin
• neutralizing antibodies
• receptor-binding domain sars-cov-2 antibody