Cycloartenol for COVID-19

c19early.org

COVID-19 Treatment Clinical Evidence

COVID-19 involves the interplay of 400+ viral and host proteins and factors, providing many therapeutic targets. c19early analyzes 6,000+ studies for 210+ treatments—over 17 million hours of research. Only three high-profit early treatments are approved in the US. In reality, many treatments reduce risk, with 25 low-cost treatments approved across 163 countries.

Naso/oropharyngeal treatment Effective Treatment directly to the primary source of initial infection.
Healthy lifestyles Protective Exercise, sunlight, a healthy diet, and good sleep all reduce risk.
Immune support Effective Vitamins A, C, D, and zinc show reduced risk, as with other viruses.
Thermotherapy Effective Methods for increasing internal body temperature, enhancing immune system function.
Systemic agents Effective Many systemic agents reduce risk, and may be required when infection progresses.
High-profit systemic agents Conditional Effective, but with greater access and cost barriers.
Monoclonal antibodies Limited Utility Effective but rarely used—high cost, variant dependence, IV/SC admin.
Acetaminophen Harmful Increased risk of severe outcomes and mortality.
Remdesivir Harmful Increased mortality with longer followup. Increased kidney and liver injury, cardiac disorders.

Cycloartenol may be beneficial for COVID-19 according to the studies below. COVID-19 involves the interplay of 400+ viral and host proteins and factors providing many therapeutic targets. Scientists have proposed 11,000+ potential treatments. c19early.org analyzes 210+ treatments. We have not reviewed cycloartenol in detail.

Studies suggesting benefit with cycloartenol

Ali et al., Exploring potential phytocompounds from black cumin as drug molecules against SARS-CoV-2 infections through bioinformatics analysis, PLOS One, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0337970

SARS-CoV-2 was identified at the end of 2019 as the key cause of COVID-19, a global pandemic. As remedies, different vaccines as well as synthetic drugs have been recommended. However, the availability of natural drugs against SARS-CoV-2 infection is limited, although natural drugs are considered as less toxic than synthetic drugs, and vaccine efficacy is gradually weakened due to unstable RNA sequence patterns of SARS-CoV-2. Black-cumin is a well-known medicinal plant, but it was not rigorously investigated against SARS-CoV-2 infections. This study attempted to investigate this issue, rigorously. In order to explore effective bioactive phytocompounds from black-cumin (BC) through bioinformatics analysis, we selected top-ranked 11 drug target proteins/receptors of which five receptors were SARS-CoV-2 proteins/proteases (S, N, RdRp, 3CLpro, PLpro) and the other six receptors were host proteins (ACE2, MAPK8, TMPRSS2, IL6, TNF, and NFKBIA) associated with the infection by the systematic literature review. We computed binding affinity scores (BAS) for each phytochemical of BC with each of those 11 receptors. Top-ranked five phytocompounds (Silibinin, Taraxerol, Beta amyrin, Cycloartenol, and Alpha-sitosterol) were selected based on their highest average BAS across our proposed receptor, these phytocompounds also showed better binding capabilities against the other independent receptors. Then we selected top-ranked three complexes (ACE2 vs. silibinin, Spike vs. beta amyrin, and MAPK8 vs. Taraxerol) to investigate their binding stability using dynamic simulation (i.e., RMSD, RMSF, DCCM, PCA, and FEL) and MM-GBSA studies and found their stable performance. The ADMET, Bioactivity, and DFT analysis results supported the drug-likeness properties of the proposed phytocompounds. Therefore, the findings of this article might be useful resources for taking an alternative treatment plan against SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Kukina et al., Lipophilic Substances of the Leaves and Inflorescences of Centaurea scabiosa L.: Their Composition and Activity Against the Main Protease of SARS-CoV-2, Molecules, doi:10.3390/molecules30234568

The composition of the lipophilic components of Centaurea scabiosa L. has been studied. The raw material was subjected to extraction with hexane and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) using both exhaustive and sequential schemes for a detailed characterization. The resulting extracts were fractionated into acidic and neutral components via treatment with alkali solutions. The acidic compounds were converted into methyl esters for subsequent gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, while the neutral unsaponifiable fractions were separated into groups of different polarities using column chromatography on silica gel. This approach enabled the identification of a complex profile of lipophilic substances. In the acidic fractions, aliphatic acids with chain lengths from C10 to C32, including unsaturated variants, were characterized. The neutral fractions revealed over compounds, encompassing n-alkanes, substantial levels of the unsaturated branched hydrocarbon squalene, and a diverse array of oxygenated terpenoids. The latter were mainly represented by highly active triterpene alcohols and ketones belonging to the ursane, oleanane, lupane, and cycloartane types. The sterol composition was dominated by β-sitosterol and accompanied by cholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, stigmast-7-en-3-β-ol, fucosterol, and stigmastan-3-β-ol. Bioactivity screening demonstrated that several of the obtained lipophilic extracts, particularly those of lower polarity, exhibited high inhibitory activity against the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, underscoring the potential of C. scabiosa as a valuable source of anti-coronavirus agents.