Compound In Rosemary Could Stop COVID-19 Infection

Scientists find evidence that carnosic acid, which is present in the herb rosemary, can block SARS-CoV-2 infection and reduce inflammation, SciTechDaily reported.

Photo Insert: Evidence suggests that the compound in rosemary could be a two-pronged weapon against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

A team co-led by scientists at Scripps Research has found evidence that the compound in rosemary could be a two-pronged weapon against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The scientists, in experiments described in a paper published on January 6, 2022, in the journal Antioxidants, found that carnosic acid can block the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 outer “spike” protein and the receptor protein, ACE2, which the virus uses to gain entry to cells.

The team also presented evidence, and reviewed evidence from prior studies, that carnosic acid has a separate effect in inhibiting a powerful inflammatory pathway—a pathway that is active in severe COVID-19 as well as in other diseases including Alzheimer’s.

In a 2016 study, Lipton and colleagues showed that carnosic acid activates an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant signaling cascade called the Nrf2 pathway, and found evidence that it reduces Alzheimer’s-like signs in mouse models of that disease, which is known to feature brain inflammation.

“We think that carnosic acid, or some optimized derivative, is worth investigating as a potentially cheap, safe, and effective treatment for COVID-19 and some other inflammation-related disorders,” says study senior author Dr. Stuart Lipton, Professor and Step Family Foundation Endowed Chair in the Department of Molecular Medicine and founding co-director of the Neurodegeneration New Medicines Center at Scripps Research.

For the new study, Lipton, along with Chang-ki Oh, Ph.D., and Dorit Trudler, Ph.D., respectively a staff scientist and postdoctoral fellow in the Lipton lab, and first author Takumi Satoh, Ph.D., of the Tokyo University of Technology, described their further studies of this anti-inflammatory effect on the immune cells that drive inflammation in COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s.

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