COVID-19: Potential of Microalgae Derived Natural Astaxanthin As Adjunctive Supplement in Alleviating Cytokine Storm

Abstract

The pandemic outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) is a potentially fatal and highly contagious disease. Given that in absence of definitive COVID-19 treatment, and the presence of asymptomatic carriers, the conventional intervention measures to curb the rate of infection and deaths will be highly challenging. Accumulating evidences suggest that excessive reactive inflammation, oxidation, and an exaggerated immune response very likely to contribute to its pathology, leads by a violent immune response cytokine storm and subsequent progression to life threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)/acute lung injury (ALI). Microalgae derived natural astaxanthin (nASX), a well-known potent anti-oxidant and broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory compound with impressive safety profile, is protective against cytokine storm, ALI/ARDS. This article summarizes the most likely benefits of nASX may provide as an adjunctive in attenuation of COVID-19 induced health adversaries based on its putative pathogenesis. There is rationale, pre-clinical evidences of effectiveness and evidence of safety from long-time use for other indications to justify possible inclusion of nASX as adjunctive in combination with primary anti-viral drugs therapy will hugely benefit COVID-19 patients by improving their health and reducing recovery time.

Note: Funding: The authors did not receive any fund for the study.

Declaration Competing Interest: None.

Ethical Approval: No ethical approval was obtained as all relevant information were retrieved from publicly available literature through multiple databases and no primary data was collected or generated during the review process.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Astaxanthin, Haematococcus pluvialis, Cytokine Storm, ARDS, Sepsis, ALI, Anti-oxidant, Anti-inflammatory