Ex vivo treatment with fucoidan of mononuclear cells from SARS-CoV-2 infected patients

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 is a worldwide health emergency, therapy for this disease is based on antiviral drugs and immunomodulators, however, there is no treatment to effectively reduce the COVID-19 mortality rate. Fucoidan is a polysaccharide obtained from marine brown algae, with anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and immune-enhancing properties, thus, fucoidan may be used as an alternative treatment (complementary to prescribed medical therapy) for the recovery of COVID-19.  This work aimed to determine the effects of ex-vivo treatment with fucoidan on cytotoxicity, apoptosis, necrosis, and senescence, besides functional parameters of calcium flux and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from SARS-CoV-2 infected, recovered and healthy subjects. Data suggest that fucoidan does not exert cytotoxicity or senescence, however, it induces the increment of intracellular calcium flux. Additionally, fucoidan promotes recovery of ΔΨm in PBMCs from COVID-19 recovered females. Data suggest that fucoidan could ameliorate the immune response in COVID-19 patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Fucoidan
• SARS-CoV-2
• cytotoxicity
• immunoregulation

Acknowledgments

Benítez-Trinidad AB, Covantes-Rosales CE, Toledo-Ibarra GA and Díaz-Resendiz KJG are former students of the Master in Science and PhD program “Posgrado en Ciencias Biológico Agropecuarias (CBAP)” of the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit (México).

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) project number 313590 ‘Caracterización y validación de propiedades inmunomoduladoras de una formulación mexicana de fucoidano, como potencial tratamiento alternativo para COVID-19’. Additionally, this work was founded by Creamos Mas S.A. de C.V.