Prophylactic treatment of Glycyrrhiza glabra mitigates COVID-19 pathology through inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the hamster model and NETosis

oleh: Zaigham Abbas Rizvi, Zaigham Abbas Rizvi, Prabhakar Babele, Srikanth Sadhu, Srikanth Sadhu, Upasna Madan, Upasna Madan, Manas Ranjan Tripathy, Manas Ranjan Tripathy, Sandeep Goswami, Sandeep Goswami, Shailendra Mani, Sachin Kumar, Amit Awasthi, Amit Awasthi, Madhu Dikshit, Madhu Dikshit

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-09-01

Deskripsi

Severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is accompanied by acute respiratory distress syndrome and pulmonary pathology, and is presented mostly with an inflammatory cytokine release, a dysregulated immune response, a skewed neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and a hypercoagulable state. Though vaccinations have proved effective in reducing the COVID-19-related mortality, the limitation of the use of vaccine against immunocompromised individuals, those with comorbidity, and emerging variants remains a concern. In the current study, we investigate for the first time the efficacy of the Glycyrrhiza glabra (GG) extract, a potent immunomodulator, against SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters. Prophylactic treatment with GG showed protection against loss in body weight and a 35%–40% decrease in lung viral load along with reduced lung pathology in the hamster model. Remarkably, GG reduced the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). In vitro, GG acted as a potent immunomodulator by reducing Th2 and Th17 differentiation and IL-4 and IL-17A cytokine production. In addition, GG also showed robust potential to suppress ROS, mtROS, and NET generation in a concentration-dependent manner in both human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and murine bone marrow-derived neutrophils (BMDNs). Taken together, we provide evidence for the protective efficacy of GG against COVID-19 and its putative mechanistic insight through its immunomodulatory properties. Our study provides the proof of concept for GG efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 using a hamster model and opens the path for further studies aimed at identifying the active ingredients of GG and its efficacy in COVID-19 clinical cases.