Licorice and its applications for SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Licorice is a common Chinese herbal medicine in China. Glycyrrhizic acid (C42H62O16), and glucoside are the major active chemical ingredients that possess antioxidant, antiviral, anti-infective, and anti-inflammatory properties. It can either cure (e.g. SARS-CoV-2) or cause diseases (e.g. hypertension or heart attack), so care is needed in the dosage of licorice. Some library search engines were used such as SCI/SCIE, PubMed, and Scopus. In this mini-review, the keywords searched include “licorice”, “traditional Chinese medicine + licorice”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “licorice + SARSCoV- 2” etc. in the last thirty years. The author discusses the background, usage, risk of licorice, the research progress on its antiviral activity as well as some Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulations for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.