Mechanistic insights from the review and evaluation of ayurvedic herbal medicines for the prevention and management of COVID-19 patients
Authors
Prasanta Sarkar
aDepartment of Rasashastra, J. B. Roy State Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital (affiliated to WBHS), Kolkata 700004, West Bengal, India
Chitrangada Mukhopadhyay
bCentre for Healthcare Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Engineering Science Technology, Shibpur, Howrah 711103, West Bengal, India
Introduction
The need for specific therapeutics against infectious diseases is made very important at this moment by the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-COV-2. Vaccines containing live attenuated or heat-inactivated pathogens elicit robust immune responses, but their safety is sometimes not assured. Subunit vaccines consisting of the most potent antigenic protein or carbohydrates of the pathogen are safer but often induce a weak immune response. Traditional Ayurveda medicines have a long history of safety and may act as immuno-modulators or vaccine adjuvants. They can reduce the amount of vaccine booster doses required to elicit an immune response against any pathogen. The main objective of this review is a mechanistic evaluation of the antiviral potential of Ayurveda herbal compositions for their ability to increase cytokine expression and enhance NK cell activity, activate CD4/ CD8 + T cells, and increase the formation of IL-2 and IFNγ against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods
Various peer-reviewed publications, books, monographs, and reputed search engines were reviewed in depth. Information available from the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia and in recent in silico analyses were compared in order to understand the mechanism of action of herbal components against SARS-CoV-2.
Results
It was found in various molecular docking and molecular dynamics studies that many bioactive natural components of Ayurvedic medicines could prevent viral entry or multiplication within a human host.
Conclusion
Ayurvedic herbal medicines can be used either independently as therapeutics or as a complement to the modern-day recombinant vaccines with immediate effect. Ayurveda-based adjuvant therapy can also efficiently manage the secondary symptoms of COVID 19 patients.
Keywords: Ayurveda, Vaccine, Adjuvant, Molecular docking, Binding energy, SARS-CoV-2
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