Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Nov;34(11):2911-2920.
doi: 10.1002/ptr.6738. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Potential effects of curcumin in the treatment of COVID-19 infection

Affiliations
Review

Potential effects of curcumin in the treatment of COVID-19 infection

Fatemeh Zahedipour et al. Phytother Res. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is an ongoing pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with considerable mortality worldwide. The main clinical manifestation of COVID-19 is the presence of respiratory symptoms, but some patients develop severe cardiovascular and renal complications. There is an urgency to understand the mechanism by which this virus causes complications so as to develop treatment options. Curcumin, a natural polyphenolic compound, could be a potential treatment option for patients with coronavirus disease. In this study, we review some of the potential effects of curcumin such as inhibiting the entry of virus to the cell, inhibiting encapsulation of the virus and viral protease, as well as modulating various cellular signaling pathways. This review provides a basis for further research and development of clinical applications of curcumin for the treatment of newly emerged SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: acute respiratory distress syndrome; curcuminoids; pulmonary fibrosis; viral infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no other conflicting interests to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Multi‐site inhibitory effects of curcumin in the pathogenesis of COVID‐19 [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abdollahi, E. , Momtazi, A. A. , Johnston, T. P. , & Sahebkar, A. (2018). Therapeutic effects of curcumin in inflammatory and immune‐mediated diseases: A nature‐made jack‐of‐all‐trades? Journal of Cellular Physiology, 233(2), 830–848. 10.1002/jcp.25778 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahmad, J. , Siddiqui, M. A. , & Ahmad, H. (1997). Effective postponement of diabetic nephropathy with enalapril in normotensive type 2 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria. Diabetes Care, 20(10), 1576–1581. 10.2337/diacare.20.10.1576 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahn, K. S. , Sethi, G. , Jain, A. K. , Jaiswal, A. K. , & Aggarwal, B. B. (2006). Genetic deletion of NAD(P)H:Quinone oxidoreductase 1 abrogates activation of nuclear factor‐kappaB, IkappaBalpha kinase, c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase, Akt, p38, and p44/42 mitogen‐activated protein kinases and potentiates apoptosis. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 281(29), 19798–19808. 10.1074/jbc.M601162200 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anand, P. , Kunnumakkara, A. B. , Newman, R. A. , & Aggarwal, B. B. (2007). Bioavailability of curcumin: Problems and promises. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 4(6), 807–818. 10.1021/mp700113r - DOI - PubMed
    1. Avasarala, S. , Zhang, F. , Liu, G. , Wang, R. , London, S. D. , & London, L. (2013). Curcumin modulates the inflammatory response and inhibits subsequent fibrosis in a mouse model of viral‐induced acute respiratory distress syndrome. PLoS One, 8(2), e57285. 10.1371/journal.pone.0057285 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
-