An Overview on the Potential Roles of EGCG in the Treatment of COVID-19 Infection

Abstract

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic is currently ongoing worldwide and causes a lot of deaths in many countries. Although different vaccines for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have been developed and are now available, there are no effective antiviral drugs to treat the disease, except for Remdesivir authorized by the US FDA to counteract the emergency. Thus, it can be useful to find alternative therapies based on the employment of natural compounds, with antiviral features, to circumvent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Pre-clinical studies highlighted the antiviral activities of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a catechin primarily found in green tea, against various viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. In this review, we summarize this experimental evidence and highlight the potential use of EGCG as an alternative therapeutic choice for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• EGCG
• SARS-CoV-2
• tea polyphenols
• antiviral properties

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Alessandra Trocino and Mrs. Cristina Romano from the National Cancer Institute of Naples for providing excellent bibliographic service and assistance. Sabrina Bimonte and Cira Antonietta Forte are co-first authors of this study. Marco Cascella and Arturo Cuomo are co-last authors of this study.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to data analysis, drafting or revising the article, have agreed on the journal to which the article will be submitted, gave final approval for the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.