In vitro efficacy of Artemisia extracts against SARS-CoV-2

  1. Chuanxiong Nie
  2. Jakob Trimpert
  3. Sooyeon Moon
  4. Rainer Haag
  5. Kerry Gilmore
  6. Benedikt B. Kaufer
  7. Peter H. Seeberger

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Abstract

Background

Traditional medicines based on herbal extracts have been proposed as affordable treatments for patients suffering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Teas and drinks containing extracts of Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra have been widely used in Africa in efforts to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and fight COVID-19.

Methods

The plant extracts and Covid-Organics drink produced in Madagascar were tested for plaque reduction using both feline coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Their cytotoxicities were also investigated.

Results

Several extracts as well as Covid-Organics inhibited SARS-CoV-2 and FCoV infection at concentrations that did not affect cell viability.

Conclusions

Some plant extracts show inhibitory activity against FCoV and SARS-CoV-2. However, it remains unclear whether peak plasma concentrations in humans can reach levels needed to inhibit viral infection following consumption of teas or Covid-Organics. Clinical studies are required to evaluate the utility of these drinks for COVID-19 prevention or treatment of patients.

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  1. Version published to 10.1186/s12985-021-01651-8
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.02.14.431122: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Plaques of FCoV were stained with specific antibodies (primary antibody: mouse anti feline coronavirus monoclonal antibody at 1:500 dilution solution, Bio-Rad; secondary antibody: Alexa 488-labeled goat anti-mouse at a 1:500 dilution; Thermo Fisher) and counted manually by fluorescence microscopy (Axio observer, Zeiss).
    anti feline coronavirus
    suggested: (Acris Antibodies GmbH Cat# SM1870P, RRID:AB_981215)
    anti-mouse
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    VeroE6 cells were seeded at 10,000 cells per well of flat bottom 96-well plates (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Roskilde
    VeroE6
    suggested: JCRB Cat# JCRB1819, RRID:CVCL_YQ49)
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Covid-Organics was purchased in Madagascar.
    Madagascar
    suggested: (Madagascar, RRID:SCR_003274)
    Sigmoidal dose response curves were fitted and median cytotoxic concentration (CC50) values were calculated with GraphPad Prism 8.0.0.
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.02.14.431122v1 on bioRxiv