Natural Immunomodulatory Agents as a Complementary Therapy for Poxviruses

PoxvirusesPoxviruses target innate immunity mediators such as tumor necrosis factors, interleukins, interferons, complement, and chemokines. It also targets adaptive immunity such as CD4+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, and B cells. Emerging of the recent epidemic of monkeypox virusMonkeypox virus (MPXV), a zoonotic disease native to Central and Western Africa, besides the lack of permitted treatments for poxvirusesPoxviruses infections, encouraged researchers to identify effective inhibitors to help in preventing and treating poxvirusesPoxviruses infections. Natural bioactive components, particularly polyphenolicsPolyphenolics, are promising for creating powerful antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, immune-stimulating, and antiviral agents. As a result, they are potentially effective therapies for preventing and treating viral diseases, such as infections caused by poxvirusesPoxviruses including the recent pandemic MPXV. PolyphenolicsPolyphenolics: rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, resveratrolResveratrol, quercitrin, myricitrin, gingerol, gallotannin, and propolis-benzofuran A, as well as isoquinoline alkaloids: galanthamineGalanthamine and thalimonine represent prospective antiviral agents against MPXV, they can inhibit MPXV and other poxvirusesPoxviruses via targeting different viral elements including DNA Topoisomerase I (TOP1), Thymidine Kinase (TK), serine/threonine protein kinase (Ser/Thr kinase), and protein A48R. The bioactive extracts of different traditional plants including Guiera senegalensis, Larrea tridentata, Sarracenia purpurea, Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers., Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Quercus infectoria, Rhus chinensis, Prunella vulgaris L., Salvia rosmarinus, and Origanum vulgare also can inhibit the growth of different poxvirusesPoxviruses including MPXV, vaccinia virusVaccinia virus (VACV), variola virus, buffalopox virus, fowlpox virus, and cowpox virus. There is an urgent need for additional molecular studies to identify and confirm the anti-poxvirusesPoxviruses properties of various natural bioactive components, especially those that showed potent antiviral activity against other viruses.