Using natural extracts in the fight against COVID-19 and its sequelae

RUBILAR, TAMARA; AVARO, MARISA; BRICHETTI, VALERIA; TEJADA, JULIETA; MONTECINO, PRISCILA; MAIDANA, SILVIA; DIRK JOCHMAN; CRESPI-ABRIL, AUGUSTO; ROMERA, ALEJANDRA; NEYTS, JOHAN; NUÑEZ, MARIA ROSA; IRIARTE, JAVIER; JAJATI, MONICA; MANSILLLA, FLORENCIA ; VOLONTERI, CLARA; DE JONGHE, STEVEN; LERNER, KARINA; BARBIERI, ELENA SUSANA; DE LARRAÑAGA, GABRIELA; SIVORI, MARTIN; SALDARINI, FERNANDO

Boston

Seminario; Global Health, Biodiversity and Therapeutics; 2023

Radcliff Institute Harvard University

During 2020 we had the SARS COV 2 Pandemic and humanity stayed still. Facing this our Ministery of Science and goverment asked every scientits to help as they could, and my team took the challenge. In may 2020 Dr. Desmachellier invite us to participate of the project Global Health, Biodiversity, and Therapeutics innovations organize by Dr. Pfister and Dr. Vargas. Our working hipothesis was that Echinochrome A a small may help to inhibit the coronavirus. We had two hypothesis: 1.Echinochrome A may decreased varial charbe by docking at Spike Protein of Mpro Protein and produce a change in it conformation and avoit junction or viral replication. 2. Echinochrome A a known antioxidant, help with the cytokine storm by decreasing ROS, immunological response and inflammation. This compound has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and is the active agent in the clinically approved drugs, Histochrome®, used for myocardial infarction and Gistochrome ,used for glaucoma. We first tried with bovine coronavirus and found that with or without pretreatment with Echinochrome could inhibited the virus. Of this, 25% inhibition was intracelular and more tan 60% was extracelular, having a sinergic effect. Then, with sars cov-2 Echinochrome A presented a 20-25% inhibition intracellular. However, nowdays the focus is on Long COVID syndrome which is characterized by a number of symptoms that persist over time in individuals who have had COVID-19 beyond 12 weeks from having contracted the disease. To date, the Long COVID syndrome is not fully understood and the lack of effective treatment represents an unmet need in medical care and patient health. Our working hypothesis was that Echinochrome A can effectively improve cellular function and, consequently, organ function in Long COVID patients. We did a ramdomized double blind multicentric clinical trial, with a treatment that lasted 3 months, two daily doses of Echa Marine, two experimental groups and studied a range of clinical parameters. Our results showed a total of 46 Long COVID patients, 22 patients received placebo and 24 received treatment with EchA Marine. Both in the placebo and treatment groups, 60% of the patients were female, and there were no differences between groups No significant differences were found in the Body Mass Index and age between the two groups. At the beginning of the study, no significant differences were found between the groups in terms of the values in the five dimensions. All patients reported a decrease in quality of life in some of the five dimensions, with values of 2 and 3 being the most frequent. After three months of treatment, Placebo patients did not show significant improvement, and values of 3 where still present. Instead, intervention with the dietary supplement EchA Marine® achieved a significant decrease in the values of two of the five dimensions, specifically, in mobility and pain and discomfort. Patients who consumed the dietary supplement did not present values of 3. The neurological analysis centered the analysis of specific cognitive pathologies such us: attention, confusion, memory, language and executive dysfunction. Patients started the study with multiple symptoms up to 11 and by the end of the treatment none of them had more than 5 symptomes. After treatment with ECHA Marine, none of the patients presented more than 5 symptoms and 60% of the patients with Echa Marine ended symptoms. With EchA Marine, a total of 90% of the patients improved while with the placebo only 46% showed an improved state and 13% deteriorated. The logistic regression indicated that male patients had 13 times greater chance of improvement. A pneumological analysis was conducted which included Spirometry, Six-Minute Walk Test, Dyspnea assessment, and High-Resolution Chest Computed Tomography images. The analysis of the data showed that with EchA Marine, 60% of the patients improved, while with the placebo only 25% improved and 32% deteriorated. The logistics regression indicates that patients receiving EchA Marine have a 5 times greater chance of improving pneumonia compared to the placebo. The improvement in the pneumological condition was directly correlated with the treatment, regardless of age, BMI, and gender. Our study demonstrates that EchA Marine® is an effective treatment option for Long COVID patients and with further research and larger sample sizes, its efficacy could be further strengthened.