Reviews
26 January 2022
Vol. 3 (2022)
Licorice and its applications for SARS-CoV-2
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
975
Views
362
Downloads
Authors
Licorice is a common Chinese herbal medicine in China. Glycyrrhizic acid (C42H62O16), and glucoside are the major active chemical ingredients that possess antioxidant, antiviral, anti-infective, and anti-inflammatory properties. It can either cure (e.g. SARS-CoV-2) or cause diseases (e.g. hypertension or heart attack), so care is needed in the dosage of licorice. Some library search engines were used such as SCI/SCIE, PubMed, and Scopus. In this mini-review, the keywords searched include “licorice”, “traditional Chinese medicine + licorice”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “licorice + SARSCoV- 2” etc. in the last thirty years. The author discusses the background, usage, risk of licorice, the research progress on its antiviral activity as well as some Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulations for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
Altmetrics
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Citations
Wang D, Liang J, Zhang J, et al. Natural chalcones in Chinese materia medica: Licorice. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2020;2020:3821248. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3821248
Aoki F, Nakagawa K, Kitano M, et al. Clinical safety of licorice flavonoid oil (LFO) and pharmacokinetics of glabridin in healthy humans. J Am Coll Nutr 2007;26:209-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2007.10719603
Ottenbacher R, Blehm J. An unusual case of licorice-induced hypertensive crisis. S D Med 2015;68:346-9.
Deutch MR, Grimm D, Wehland M, et al. Bioactive candy: Effects of licorice on the cardiovascular system. Foods 2019;8:495. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8100495
Srivatsa A, Liu J, McFarland J, Kaul V. Does eating black licorice mimic melena or cause it? Am J Gastroenterol 2008;103:S277-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14309/00000434-200809001-00707
Omar HR, Komarova I, El-Ghonemi M, Fathy A, Rashad R, Abdelmalak HD, Yerramadha MR, Ali Y, Helal E, Camporesi EM. Licorice abuse: time to send a warning message. Ther Adv Endocrinol Metab 2012;3:125-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2042018812454322
Murphy S, Agger S, Rainey P. Too much of a good thing: a woman with hypertension and hypokalemia. Clin Chem 2009;55:2093-96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2009.127506
Pompei R, Flore O, Marcialis MA, et al. Glycyrrhizic acid inhibits virus growth and inactivates virus particles. Nature 1979;281:689-90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/281689a0
Badam L. In vitro antiviral activity of indigenous glycyrrhizin, licorice and glycyrrhizic acid (Sigma) on Japanese encephalitis virus. J Commun Dis 1997;29:91-9.
Lin JC, Cherng JM, Hung MS, et al. Inhibitory effects of some derivatives of glycyrrhizic acid against Epstein-Barr virus infection: Structure-activity relationships. Antiviral Res 2008;79:6-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2008.01.160
Bentz GL, Lowrey AJ, Horne DC, et al. Using glycyrrhizic acid to target sumoylation processes during Epstein-Barr virus latency. PLoS One 2019;14:e0217578. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217578
Ashfaq UA, Masoud MS, Nawaz Z, Sheikh R. Glycyrrhizin as antiviral agent against Hepatitis C Virus. J Transl Med 2011;9:112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5876-9-112
Michaelis M, Geiler J, Naczk P, et al. Glycyrrhizin exerts antioxidative effects in H5N1 influenza A virus-infected cells and inhibits virus replication and pro-inflammatory gene expression. PLoS One 2011;6:e19705. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019705
Hu B, Guo H, Zhou P, Shi ZL. Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Nat Rev Microbiol 2021;19:141-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-00459-7
Zhang Q, Xiang R, Huo S, et al. Molecular mechanism of interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and host cells and interventional therapy. Sig Transduct Target Ther 2021;6:233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-021-00653-w
Van de Sand L, Bormann M, Alt M, et al. Glycyrrhizin effectively inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication by inhibiting the viral main protease. Viruses 2021;13:609. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/v13040609
Murck H. Symptomatic protective action of glycyrrhizin (licorice) in COVID-19 infection? Front Immunol 2020;11:1239. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01239
Law S, Xu C, Leung AW. Use of Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in China and Asia. Asian Educ Dev Stud 2020;10:198-209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-05-2020-0104
How to Cite
Licorice and its applications for SARS-CoV-2. (2022). Infectious Diseases and Herbal Medicine, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/idhm.2022.184
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.