Antiinflammatory Activities of Curcumin and Spirulina: Focus on Their Role against COVID-19

Abstract

Nutraceuticals have for several years aroused the interest of researchers for their countless properties, including the management of viral infections. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, studies and research on the antiviral properties of nutraceuticals have greatly increased. More specifically, over the past two years, researchers have focused on analyzing the possible role of nutraceuticals in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or mitigating the symptoms of COVID-19. Among nutraceuticals, turmeric, extracted from the rhizome of the Curcuma Longa plant, and spirulina, commercial name of the cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis, have assumed considerable importance in recent years. The purpose of this review is to collect, through a search of the most recent articles on Pubmed, the scientific evidence on the role of these two compounds in the fight against COVID-19. In the last two years many hypotheses, some confirmed by clinical and experimental studies, have been made on the possible use of turmeric against COVID-19, while on spirulina and its possible role against SARS-CoV-2 infection information is much less. The demonstrated antiviral properties of spirulina and the fact that these cyanobacteria may modulate or modify some mechanisms also involved in the onset of COVID-19, lead us to think that it may have the same importance as curcumin in fighting this disease and to speculate on the possible combined use of these two substances to obtain a synergistic effect.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• curcumin
• nutraceuticals
• SARS-CoV-2
• spirulina

Acknowledgments

The Authors would like to thank Dr. Pia Furno and Dr. Rosalina Perna for editorial assistance. Eleonora Hay is supported by Ph.D program of University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy. Supporter of the work was the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” and University of Molise, whom we thank.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Angelica Perna

Angelica Perna is researcher at the University of Molise.

Eleonora Hay

Eleonora Hay is a PhD student at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.

Carmine Sellitto

Carmine Sellitto is Doctor of Medicine and PhD Student.

Emiliano Del Genio

Emiliano Del Genio is a medical student at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.

Maria De Falco

Maria De Falco is associate professor at the University of Naples Federico II.

Germano Guerra

Germano Guerra is Professor (Full) at University of Molise.

Antonio De Luca

Antonio De Luca is Professor (Full) at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.

Paolo De Blasiis

Paolo De Blasiis is Research Fellow at University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.

Angela Lucariello

Angela Lucariello is researcher at Parthenope University of Naples.