Herbal Medicine Honeysuckle Is Expected to Be Used in Prevention and Treatment of Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus is rich in MicroRNA (miRNA) from plants and has the potential for targeting and inhibiting new coronavirus. It is useful for early prevention and treatment of new coronavirus, according to Nanjing University's research team from Professor Zhang Chenyu.
Does this mean green tea and honeysuckle can treat and prevent novel coronavirus? WHO said that there had not been any medicines that can be used to prevent and treat this virus so far. Specific treatments are under study and will be tested in clinical trials.
In 2012, Professor Zhang Chenyu published a research paper in the Journal of cell research and found that exogenous plant miRNA in food can regulate the expression of mammalian target genes. According to Chen Xi, microRNA (miRNA) is a kind of small RNA with a length of about 20-24 nucleotides, which widely exists in various animals and plants and plays an important role in regulating gene function.
In 2016, Professor Zhang Chenyu's team published research papers in cell research magazine again. Further research found that mir2911 in honeysuckle could be absorbed by mice through decoction and directly targeted at influenza A virus, thus inhibiting the replication of the cold virus.
MIR2911 is a novel coronavirus in plants such as honeysuckle. The research team is now doing experiments to verify the role of MIR2911 in new coronavirus. Professor Chen Xi, a team member, introduced that mir2911 can exist stably in honeysuckle Decoction and directly inhibit the replication of influenza virus in the human body after oral administration.

Previous experiments have shown that Phellodendron, Folium Isatidis, and Chinese green tea contain the same concentration of mir2911 as honeysuckle. Therefore, novel coronavirus is expected to be used for the prevention and early treatment of honeysuckle, Cortex Phellodendri, and Folium Isatidis.
Chen Xi said in an interview with the Modern Express that after the experiment, the team members focused on the honeysuckle and the ingredients of mir2911, and continued to look for the ingredients of mir2911. They found that the content of mir2911 was also very high when the tea was made of Phellodendron and Folium Isatidis, and the content of green tea was slightly low.
"At present, the published papers show that mir2911 can inhibit influenza virus, varicella-zoster virus, enterovirus, but no papers have been published, but there is evidence that it can inhibit Ebola virus, Zika virus, ASFV, MERs, and porcine rotavirus." Chen Xi said.
As for the research findings on honeysuckle, Professor Zhang Chenyu of the school of life sciences of Nanjing University stressed many times in an interview that the current research findings still need further demonstration by the authority. If we want to prove it, we need to do experiments on people. Safety and effectiveness should be evaluated, and efforts are being made in this regard. "