Ginseng, the natural effectual antiviral: Protective effects of Korean Red Ginseng against viral infection

Im, Kyungtaek; Kim, Jisu; Min, Hyeyoung

Coxsackievirus is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus, belonging to Picornaviridae. Coxsackieviruses are divided into the group A virus with 23 serotypes and the group B virus with six serotypes [89, 90] . Among those, the most common pathogens are coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) causing HFMD as described above and coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) causing myocarditis, aseptic meningitis, and pancreatitis [91, 92] . At present, there is no effective therapeutic agent against CVB3, and only ribavirin is available for CVB3 infection despite its weak antiviral activity [93] . 20(S)-Protopanaxtriol is one of the major triterpenes isolated from Panax notoginseng [94] . It has been shown that 20(S)-protopanaxtriol has potent antiCVB3 activities in vitro and in vivo. The IC 50 of 20(S)-protopanaxtriol for inhibition of CVB3 replication in HeLa cells was even lower than that of ribavirin, indicating a stronger antiviral effect than ribavirin. In vivo experiments showed that treatment of CVB3-infected mice with 20(S)-protopanaxtriol significantly improved CVB3-induced myocarditis represented by a decrease in the activities of lactase dehydrogenase and creatine kinase, markers for myocardial injury.