Ancient Greek drug could cut COVID-19 deaths — Israeli scientist.“Initial results are promising to say the least.”

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(The Jerusalem Post)- Ancient Greek drug could cut COVID-19 deaths — Israeli scientist

Prof. Ami Schattner: “Initial results are promising to say the least.”

Saffron (photo credit: PIXABAY)
Saffron
(photo credit: PIXABAY)
An ancient Greek drug derived from the saffron plant could improve the treatment of people with severe COVID-19 and reduce the COVID mortality rate by as much as 50%, according to a report published earlier this month in the European Journal of Internal Medicine by an Israeli researcher from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical School.
The drug, colchicine, dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, where it was known for its special healing properties.
It is one of a few medicines that survived until modern times.
Most recently, it has been used to treat and prevent inflammation caused by gout that can lead to painful arthritis and Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), which is common among Jewish people of North African descent.
Prof. Ami Schattner researched and analyzed all patients treated in controlled trials of this ancient drug for the past 20 years.
He found that among its uses and potential uses, colchicine also appears effective in treating COVID-19.
So far, four controlled studies of around 6,000 coronavirus patients have been published on the effect of colchicine, Schattner said, each showing a “significant improvement in severe coronavirus indices and, most importantly, there was a decrease in mortality by about 50% compared to those who were not treated with colchicine.”
The drug is cheap, a small half-milligram dose is needed per day, and it has already been proven safe to use, he said, making colchicine “an important discovery that could significantly contribute to improving the morbidity and mortality of many patients, if confirmed in further studies.”
The drug is also well-tolerated, the doctor said.
The only side-effects in some patients can be bouts of diarrhea; about 10% of patients discontinue the use of the drug for this reason.
The drug has been tested in the treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, including in Canada, Greece, South Africa, Spain and Brazil.
Many of the tests were double-blind placebo studies, increasing their likelihood of accuracy.
“The results were impressive,” he said.
Colchicine was first mentioned in an ancient Egyptian papyrus dating back to 1550 BC, even before the Jewish people left Egypt, according to the biblical story.
Later, it was used by physicians in ancient Greece, in the Byzantine period and then by Arab physicians more than 1,000 years ago.
Some 50 years ago, using the drug to treat FMF was verified by researchers at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and Hadassah, not only against the sharp attacks associated with the disease and their prevention, but also in protection against a serious complication of FMF – amyloidosis, which affects the kidneys.
More recently, several studies have started to prove its effectiveness in the treatment of acute pericarditis (swelling around the heart, and in the prevention of post-cardiac injury syndrome and atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery.
“As is well known, patients who have had a heart attack are at a significantly increased risk of recurrence and stroke, and these are very many patients,” Schattner said.
“Studies from recent years have found that thanks to its anti-inflammatory activity on the atherosclerotic layers in the arteries, colchicine in small daily doses is able to effectively protect these patients.
“The level of protection was to the point of preventing about half of the recurrent events, and this impressive beneficial effect was also achieved in patients who had already undergone therapeutic catheterization and had taken optimal preventive treatment by aspirin and statins,” he added. “This is important news for a very large number of patients.”

When can the drug start being used to help COVID patients?

Further randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these preliminary results, according to Schattner, which he believes will likely lead to expanding indications for low-dose colchicine. But he said there is no reason that the drug could not start being used right now.
“Even though initial data on the effect of colchicine on coronavirus patients is very promising, more patients need to be in randomized controlled trials,” Schattner said. “But that would not prevent me from using the drug already in patients with high risk, to hopefully lower their chances of developing severe disease.
“The drug is low-cost for the patients and the community,” he continued. “By using it in corona patients, we have nothing to lose and much to gain.”
Source: The Jerusalem Post, 21/12/2021

The saffron plant has been used for medicinal purposes for more than 4000 years to treat as many as 90 different health conditions and ailments.

The active components present in saffron possess many medicinal properties.

 

The safranal has antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic effects, as well as anticonvulsant and antidepressant properties.

The α-crocin has been found to have antioxidant, antidepressant, and anticancer properties.

Saffron is widely used in Indian, Persian, European, Arab, and Turkish foods.

It is common to find saffron in body oils and fabric dyes or as a flavoring in beverages and foods.
Saffron is among the world’s most costly spices by weight because 1 kg requires about 110,000–170,000 flowers.
The orange or red color results primarily from crocin.
More than 150 compounds were detected, significant among which were the aroma-yielding compounds; safranal and picrocrocin.

Bioactive Components of Saffron and Their Pharmacological Properties

Azam Bolhassani, in Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, 2018

Abstract

Saffron, the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus flowers, is a well-known spice that has an antidepressant effect.

Chemical analysis of saffron extract has revealed about 150 various compounds among them being crocin, crocetin, safranal, and picrocrocin which are the most important bioactive constituents of saffron.

Major components of saffron extract belong to the category of carotenoids including crocin and crocetin. In the structure–activity studies, pharmacological activities of saffron and its constituents exhibit anti-Alzheimer’s activity (crocin), antitussive activity (safranal), hypolipidemic activity (crocin), anticonvulsant activity (safranal), antipruritic and emollient effects (saffron), antinociceptive and antiinflammatory activity (saffron), antioxidant activity (saffron and crocin), protection from genotoxicity (saffron), cardioprotection (crocetin), antidiabetic activity (crocetin), prevention of respiratory disorders (saffron and safranal), prevention of ischemic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (crocin), anti-Parkinson’s activity (saffron and crocetin), hippocampal long-term potentiation/prevention of death of neurons (saffron and crocin), antidepressant activity (saffron), promoting and regulating menstrual periods (saffron), anticancer and antitumor activity (saffron, crocin, and crocetin), antiapoptotic effects on noncancerous cells (crocin), and suppression of hemorrahagic shock (crocetin).

There are various mechanisms describing antitumor effects of saffron and its ingredients such as (a) promotion of cell cycle arrest, (b) inhibition of DNA and RNA synthesis, (c) ability to scavenge free radicals, (d) involvement in the metabolic conversion of carotenoids to retinoids, (e) direct or indirect interactions with topoisomerase II, (f) promotion of interactions mediated via lectins, (g) downmodulation of metalloproteinase and urokinase activity, and (h) expression of the catalytic subunit of the human telomerase in cancer cells.

Based on the current data, saffron and its ingredients exhibited high antioxidant activity and could be considered as a promising candidate for clinical anticancer trials. In this chapter, we will describe recent developments in pharmacological effects of saffron and its bioactive ingredients related to various disorders.

Source : Science Direct,2018

Last Updated on 21.12.2021 by iskova