Evaluation of the immunomodulatory effects of anti-COVID-19 TCM formulae by multiple virus-related pathways

Qiao, L., Huang, W., Zhang, X. et al. · Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · 2021 February 4

Objective

We collected 125 anti-COVID-19 TCM formulae from public sources (The formulae and their sources are summarized in Table S1) containing 196 TCMs (Table S2), 166 of which were included in our study.

Conclusions

Critical Appraisal

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Insights

125 anti-COVID-19 traditional Chinese medicine formulae were identified with anti-inflammatory or immune-activating functions.

Our research suggested a good approach for evaluating the efficacy of anti-COVID-19 TCM formulae based on their immunoregulatory effects on a macrophage model. The state council of the People’s Republic of China recommended three patented medicines and three TCM formulae for the treatment of COVID-19 which have shown good anti-COVID-19 effects in clinical practice. Our system indicated that five of six formulae and medicines mentioned above possessed a negative normalized enrichment score (NES), including Qingfei Paidu Decoction (ranking 1/98), Lianhua Qingwen Capsule (ranking 6/98), Xuanfei Baidu Formula (ranking 14/98), Huashi Baidu Formula (ranking 20/98), and Jinhua Qinggan Granule (ranking 45/98). The remaining one, Xuebijing Injection (ranking 26/26), had a positive NES.