Golden pigment curcumin: An inspiring antiviral molecular model for COVID-19 drug design

COVID-19 caused by a new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) originated in China has speedily become a frightening pandemic all over the world Despite of intense efforts relevant to experimental and clinical studies since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, no disease-specific drug or vaccine is available, yet Several treatment strategies including already known antiviral drugs, interpherons, interleukin inhibitors, and other drugs acting through different mechanims are being implemented in COVID-19 patients On the other hand, natural products especially pythocompounds have been proven to be lead molecules for drug design and development research Among them, curcumin as the main constituent of Curcuma longa L (turmeric), is the reputed compound displaying remarkable biological activities for human health It has been shown to have a inhibiting effect against a wide range of viruses such as HCV, HIV, PEDV, HSV, Ebola, dengue, influenza, Zika, SARS-CoV, etc Therefore, curcumin could be considered as a structural model for designing new molecules against COVID-19 In the present review, antiviral activity of curcumin is scrutinized thorugh the literature data relevant to its enzyme and receptor interactions, in vitro, in vivo, in silico, and cell-based assays