Distribution rules of antiviral traditional Chinese medicine based on data driven analysis

Objective: To mine the distribution rules of antiviral traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), in order to provide the basis for the screening of antiviral activity of TCM and candidate prescriptions for current epidemic prevention and control. Methods: Taking the Research and Application of Antiviral Chinese Herbal Medicine and the literature reports of antiviral TCM in CNKI and Web of science as information sources, the relevant information was standardized, and the distribution rules of medicinal properties, families and genera, active ingredients and activity of antiviral TCM were mined by frequency analysis, co-occurrence analysis and phylogenetic tree construction methods. Results: A total of 511 antiviral TCM were screened, containing 41 of the 48 herbs involved in the "three medicines and three prescriptions" of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Mostly with medicinal properties such as cold nature, bitter taste, return to the lung and liver meridian, among which Bailangen (Isatidis Radix), Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix), and Jinyinhua (Lonicerae Japonicae Flos) were the most common. The data of coronaviridae was 135, and the high-frequency TCM were Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix), Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma), and Isatidis Radix. Meanwhile, it was found that Isatidis Radix and Kudouzi (the seed of Sophora alopecuroides) were the most studied TCM during the SARS period in 2003, while in 2020, the research on Sangbaipi (Mori Cortex) was the first when COVID-19 was sudden. The effective ingredients of antiviral TCM were mostly polysaccharides and flavonoids. TCM with antiviral effects involved a total of 564 base source species, which had significant clustering on phylogenetic trees and were mainly distributed in the chrysanthemum and rose branches of the seed plant phylum, with Asteraceae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, and Rosaceae having the most antiviral TCM. Conclusion: These results suggested that the attributes of TCM with antiviral effects are mainly bitter, cold, lung and liver meridian. TCM origin from Asteraceae, Labiatae, and Leguminosae are more likely to have antiviral effects. Their effective components such as astragalus polysaccharide, Isatidis Radix polysaccharide, quercetin, caffeic acid and ursolic acid are polysaccharides or flavonoids, and these rules are basically consistent with the "three medicines and three prescriptions" promoted and used in this fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. This study provides a reference for the screening of antiviral TCM activity, especially for the screening of candidate TCM for the prevention and control of the current COVID-19.