New therapeutic aspects of flavones: the anticancer properties of Scutellaria and its main active constituents Wogonin, Baicalein and Baicalin.

Lonicera japonica Thunb.: ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and pharmacology of an important traditional Chinese medicine.

Antiviral Natural Products and Herbal Medicines

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is the pathogen of SARS, which caused a global panic in 2003. We describe here the screening of Chinese herbal medicine-based, novel small molecules that bind avidly with the surface spike protein of SARS-CoV and thus can interfere with the entry of the virus to its host cells. We achieved this by using a two-step screening method consisting of frontal affinity chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with a viral infection assay based on a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-luc/SARS pseudotyped virus. Two small molecules, tetra-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose (TGG) and luteolin, were identified, whose anti-SARS-CoV activities were confirmed by using a wild-type SARS-CoV infection system. TGG exhibits prominent anti-SARS-CoV activity with a 50% effective concentration of 4.5 microM and a selective index of 240.0. The two-step screening method described here yielded several small molecules that can be used for developing new classes of anti-SARS-CoV drugs and is potentially useful for the high-throughput screening of drugs inhibiting the entry of HIV, hepatitis C virus, and other insidious viruses into their host cells.

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Small Molecules Blocking the Entry of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus into Host Cells

The genus Scutellaria an ethnopharmacological and phytochemical review

Antiviral Chinese medicinal herbs against respiratory syncytial virus.

Five compounds have been isolated from the dried whole plants of Selaginella uncinata, two of them were new chromone glycosides, 5-hydroxy-2,6,8-trimethylchromone 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (uncinoside A) and 5-acetoxyl-2,6,8-trimethylchromone 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (uncinoside B). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including one- and two-dimensional NMR techniques. The other three compounds were identified as 8-methyl eugenitol, amentoflavone and hinokiflavone. Uncinoside A and B showed potent antiviral activities against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with IC(50) value of 6.9 and 1.3 microg/ml, moderate antiviral activities against parainfluenza type 3 virus (PIV 3) with IC(50) value of 13.8 and 20.8 microg/ml, respectively.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb/51/11/51_11_1264/_pdf

Song Fong Lee

Papers

Antiviral Chinese medicinal herbs against respiratory syncytial virus.

Uncinoside A and B, two new antiviral chromone glycosides from Selaginella uncinata.

Uncinoside A and B, Two New Antiviral Chromone Glycosides from Selaginella uncinata.