Study on the mechanism of vitamin C and glycyrrhizin acid in co-treatment of COVID-19

GUO Yong-mei, XU Rui

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Journal of Yunnan University of Nationalities(Natural Sciences Edition) ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (01) : 68-76. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-8513.2025.01.009

Study on the mechanism of vitamin C and glycyrrhizin acid in co-treatment of COVID-19

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Abstract

Utilizing network pharmacology technology, this study investigated the mechanism of vitamin C (VC) and glycyrrhizic acid (GA) in prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The functional targets of VC and GA were obtained through databases from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), SuperPred, SEA Search Server (SEA), DrugBank, Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), and SwissTargetPrediction. The therapeutic targets for COVID-19 were obtained from databases such as GeneCards. A “drug-disease-target” network was constructed, followed by Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Molecular docking simulations were performed using Autodock Vina software. A total of 667 functional targets for VC, 154 functional targets for GA, and 1,586 therapeutic targets for COVID-19 were identified. There were 45 overlapping targets between VC and GA that are relevant to the pathogenic mechanisms of COVID-19. Key targets included ALB, MAPK3, EGFR, IL2, MAPK1, and CTLA4. GO analysis revealed that these targets were enriched in biological processes such as peptidyl serine phosphorylation and protein binding. KEGG analysis indicated that the targets primarily acted on pathways like the 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) synaptic pathway. Molecular docking results demonstrated that both VC and GA exhibited strong binding affinities with critical targets such as SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease and ACE2. This study suggests that VC and GA may exert synergistic effects in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 by modulating immune system activation.

Key words

COVID-19 / vitamin C / glycyrrhizin / network pharmacology / mechanism of action

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GUO Yong-mei , XU Rui. Study on the mechanism of vitamin C and glycyrrhizin acid in co-treatment of COVID-19. Journal of Yunnan University of Nationalities(Natural Sciences Edition). 2025, 34(01): 68-76 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1672-8513.2025.01.009

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