IMR Press / FBL / Volume 28 / Issue 10 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2810237
Open Access Review
Apigenin’s Therapeutic Potential Against Viral Infection
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1 Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, 07804 Seoul, Republic of Korea
*Correspondence: shhong13@ewha.ac.kr (So-Hee Hong); yjseo@cau.ac.kr (Young-Jin Seo)
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2023, 28(10), 237; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2810237
Submitted: 10 July 2023 | Revised: 24 August 2023 | Accepted: 6 September 2023 | Published: 17 October 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Influenza Viruses)
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Several antiviral drugs are clinically approved to treat influenza that is a highly prevalent acute respiratory disease. However, emerging drug-resistant virus strains undermine treatment efficacy, highlighting the exigency for novel antiviral drugs to counter these drug-resistant strains. Plants and their derivates have been historically utilized as medicinal remedies, and extensive studies have evidenced the antiviral potential of phytochemicals. Notably, apigenin is a predominant flavonoid with minimal toxicity and substantial therapeutic effects in various disease models. Despite its many anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, and other beneficial bioactivities, existing reviews have yet to focus on apigenin’s antiviral effects. Therefore, this review elucidates apigenin’s therapeutic and antiviral properties in vitro and in vivo, discussing its mode of action and future prospects. Apigenin’s remarkable inhibition by modulating multiple mechanisms against viruses has promising potential for novel plant-derived antiviral drugs and further clinical study developments.

Keywords
flavonoids
4′,5,7-trihydroxyflavone
antiviral drugs
influenza
phytochemicals
Funding
Chung-Ang University Research Scholarship
NRF-2018R1A5A1025077/National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)
Figures
Fig. 1.
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