Traditional Chinese medicine: an important broad-spectrum anti-coronavirus treatment strategy on COVID-19 background?

Coronaviruses exist widely in nature, can cause cross-species transmission, and pose serious threats to human and animal health. Over the past 20 years, coronaviruses have led to three major epidemics that have caused global panic, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and coronavirus disease-19. At present, coronavirus disease-19 not only spreads rapidly, but also mutates easily to escape host immune response, becoming more pathogenic. At present, there are no effective specific therapeutic drugs or vaccines. Drugs targeting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and the host cell defense system that have been developed based on the structure and replication cycle of coronaviruses have a certain broad-spectrum antiviral effect; however, their efficacy still needs to be demonstrated in further clinical trials. Traditional Chinese medicine has an indispensable role in the ongoing response to coronavirus disease-19. Anti-virus treatment with traditional Chinese medicine has advantages such as broad-spectrum application, low toxicity and side effects, low susceptibility to drug resistance, and overall comprehensive regulation. Therefore, researches on effective components and mechanisms of action of the anti-viral effects of traditional Chinese medicine have increasingly gained attention. The present paper examines coronaviruses, specifically summarizing the genomes, replication mechanisms, and mutant strains. Afterward, the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of action of modern broad-spectrum anti-coronavirus drugs and traditional Chinese medicine are summarized. By considering the virus and the targets in the host comprehensively, in addition to the beneficial multi-target and multi-path antiviral effects of traditional Chinese medicines, this paper could guide the development of treatment strategies for broad-spectrum anti-coronavirus traditional Chinese medicines, and could facilitate the modernization and globalization of traditional Chinese medicine.