Honghua extract mediated potent inhibition of COVID-19 host cell pathways


Madikyzy M. Tilegen M. Nazarbek G. Mu C. Kutzhanova A. Li X. Ma C. Xie Y.
December 2022Nature Research

Scientific Reports
2022#12Issue 1

Honghua (Carthami flos) and Xihonghua (Croci stigma) have been used in anti-COVID-19 as Traditional Chinese Medicine, but the mechanism is unclear. In this study, we applied network pharmacology by analysis of active compounds and compound-targets networks, enzyme kinetics assay, signaling pathway analysis and investigated the potential mechanisms of anti-COVID-19. We found that both herbs act on signaling including kinases, response to inflammation and virus. Moreover, crocin likely has an antiviral effect due to its high affinity towards the human ACE2 receptor by simulation. The extract of Honghua and Xihonghua exhibited nanozyme/herbzyme activity of alkaline phosphatase, with distinct fluorescence. Thus, our data suggest the great potential of Honghua in the development of anti-COVID-19 agents.



Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Ave, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
Sino-German Joint Research Center on Agricultural Biology, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, China
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Qingdao Nucleic Acid Rapid Detection Engineering Research Center, College of Marine Science and Biological Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China
Zhejiang University-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China

Department of Biology
Sino-German Joint Research Center on Agricultural Biology
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering
Zhejiang University-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026