DNA intercalators alkaloids as Potential candidates to fight COVID-19 disease: Systematic review

The main objective of the current systematic review was to report the antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects of bioactive molecules class known as alkaloids against SARS-COV-2 disease. These bioactive compounds were characterized by their potential replication inhibitory ability by DNA intercalating effect, and might be powerful agents against infections caused by several viruses, therefore it can be a viable strategy for COVID-19 management. PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and SpringerLink, databases have been chosen to look for keywords like DNA intercalators, alkaloids, antiviral activity, anti-inflammatory effect, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Two reviewers have evaluated the quality of 60 articles extracted from the four databases till 15th of May 2021, using inclusions and exclusions criteria, 25 papers were accepted and treated in this systematic review, performed based on PRISMA protocol. Results disclosed that alkaloids have key roles in viral replication inhibition, quinine and emetine showed a noticeable therapeutic effect against SARS-COV-2 virus, however emetine revealed modifications in the electrocardiogram (ECG), unlike sanguinarine and berberine that showed low human toxicity. Tetrandrine, fangchinoline and cepharantine could be classified as remedies in case of Coronavirus ailment. Chelidonine, coptisine, skimmianine, protropine, palmatine, cinchonine, harmine and dictamine represented important agents for clinical researches or as precursors for antiviral drug’s formulation.