Pomegranate Peel Extract as an Inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Binding to Human ACE2 Receptor (in vitro): A Promising Source of Novel Antiviral Drugs
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
Abstract
Plant extracts are rich in bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, sesquiterpenes, and triterpenes, which potentially have antiviral activities. As a consequence of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, thousands of scientists have been working tirelessly trying to understand the biology of this new virus and the disease pathophysiology, with the main goal of discovering effective preventive treatments and therapeutic agents. Plant-derived secondary metabolites may play key roles in preventing and counteracting the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections by inhibiting the activity of several viral proteins, in particular those involved in the virus entry into the host cells and its replication. Using in vitro approaches, we investigated the role of a pomegranate peel extract (PPE) in attenuating the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, and on the activity of the virus 3CL protease. Although further studies will be determinant to assess the efficacy of this extract in vivo , our results opened new promising opportunities to employ natural extracts for the development of effective and innovative therapies in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.
Article activity feed
-
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.01.406116: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis The MST was carried out using 100% LED and 20% IR-laser power at 37 °C. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources After 3 washes, the plate was loaded with 50 μl of cell supernatants derived from cell treatments, plus 50 μl of biotin-conjugated anti-DHT antibody (1:1000 dilution in PBS − BSA 1%). anti-DHTsuggested: (Fitzgerald Industries International Cat# 20R-DR011W, RRID:AB_11199777)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).
Resu…SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.01.406116: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis The MST was carried out using 100% LED and 20% IR-laser power at 37 °C. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources After 3 washes, the plate was loaded with 50 μl of cell supernatants derived from cell treatments, plus 50 μl of biotin-conjugated anti-DHT antibody (1:1000 dilution in PBS − BSA 1%). anti-DHTsuggested: (Fitzgerald Industries International Cat# 20R-DR011W, RRID:AB_11199777)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 found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).
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.
- No funding statement was detected.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
-
