COVID-19 is an important new infectious disease that affects >150 countries worldwide. This respiratory infection is a public health emergency to be managed. As a new disease, there is limited knowledge of treatment. In general, many drugs are tests for possible efficacy in disease management. The widely used antiviral drugs include oseltamivir and anti-HIV drugs.[1] In medical science, there are also attempts to find herbs, natural products, which might be effective in the treatment of the coronavirus disease.[2] In the previous report, an important target that is useful for the treatment of coronavirus disease is tyrosine kinase.[3] Any herbs that pose anti-tyrosine kinase property might be useful for the treatment of COVID-19. Here, the authors perform a pharmacoinformatics study to search for herbs that have antipeptidase property and might be useful. Using the same database mining technique as in the referencing publication,[4] the PubMed database is used as a primary tool for data mining. According to data mining, there are at least herbs that present anti-tyrosine kinase properties and might be useful for the treatment of COVID-19. Those herbs are Hesperethusa crenulata,[5] Perilla frutescens,[6] Ephedra equisetina,[7] Shiraia bambusicola,[8] Panax ginseng[9] and Carthamus tinctorius L [Table 1].[10] Of interest, those herbs are the classical well-known herbs in East Asia, where the COVID-19 first emerged. The present data mining is only to roughly include potential herbs for further studies on the possible usefulness in the management of COVID-19. Some of these herbs are already confirmed for their advantages in the management of viral respiratory infections. For example, E. equisetina and P. ginseng are confirmed for its anti-influenza property.[11 12]
Table 1.
Local herbs that have potentials for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019
| Herbs | Origin | Ehnopharmacological indication | Administration | Dose/day* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hesperethusa crenulata Perilla frutescens Ephedra equisetina Shiraia bambusicola Panax ginseng Carthamus tinctorius L. | Myanmar | Dermatological disorder | Skin paste | Powder paste |
| Myanmar, China | Gastrointestinal disorder | Ingestion | 2.5 g | |
| Japan | Cardiovascular disorder | Ingestion | 30 mg | |
| China | Respiratory disorder | Ingestion | 25 mg | |
| Korea, China | Many disorder30 | Ingestion | 6 g | |
| Korea | Cardiovascular disorder | Ingestion | 30 g |
*Dose is referred to local ethnopharmacological practice
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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