Journal of Ginseng Research

The Korean Society of Ginseng (고려인삼학회)
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Korean Red Ginseng, a regulator of NLRP3 inflammasome, in the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Jung, Eui-Man (Department of Molecular Biology, College of Natural Science, Pusan National University) ;
  • Lee, Geun-Shik (College of Veterinary Medicine and Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University)
  • Received : 2022.02.03
  • Accepted : 2022.02.14
  • Published : 2022.05.01
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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exhibits various symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic to severe pneumonia or death. The major features of patients in severe COVID-19 are the dysregulation of cytokine secretion, pneumonia, and acute lung injury. Consequently, it leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, multiple organ failure, and death. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative virus of COVID-19, influences nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeat, and pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), the sensor of inflammasomes, directly or indirectly, culminating in the assembly of NLRP3 inflammasome and activation of inflammatory caspases, which induce the inflammatory disruption in severe COVID-19. Accordingly, the target therapeutics for inflammasome has attracted attention as a treatment for COVID-19. Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) inhibits several inflammatory responses, including the NLRP3 inflammasome signaling. This review discusses the role of KRG in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 based on its anti-NLRP3 inflammasome efficacy.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (NRF-2018R1A2B2004097), Republic of Korea.

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