Dr. Stuart Lipton

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The culinary herb rosemary is commonly used in our kitchens to season an array of dishes, and is also considered a good source for vitamins and minerals.

Rosemary is also valued for its medicinal properties, and has traditionally been used to help alleviate muscle pain, boost the immune and circulatory system, as well as many other health benefits.

Now, scientists at Scripps Research have found evidence that a compound contained in rosemary could be a two-pronged weapon against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The research was partly funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

Published in the journal Antioxidants, the study found that the compound, carnosic acid, can block the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 outer “spike” protein and the receptor protein, ACE2, which the virus uses to gain entry to cells.

“We think that carnosic acid, or some optimized derivative, is worth investigating as a potentially cheap, safe, and effective treatment for COVID-19 and some other inflammation-related disorders,” says study senior author Dr. Stuart Lipton of Scripps Research.

The team also reviewed prior studies and presented new evidence that carnosic acid could inhibit a powerful inflammatory pathway that is active in severe COVID-19, as well as in other diseases including Alzheimer’s.

They also proposed that this effect could be beneficial in treating the post-COVID syndrome known as “long COVID” whose reported symptoms include cognitive difficulties often described as “brain fog.”

While the research is preliminary, the researchers propose that carnosic acid has this antiviral effect because it is converted to its active form by the inflammation and oxidation found at sites of infection. In that active form, they suggest, the compound modifies the ACE2 receptor for SARS-CoV-2—making the receptor impregnable to the virus and thereby blocking infection.

Lipton and his colleagues are now working with Scripps Research chemists to synthesize and test more potent derivatives of carnosic acid with improved drug characteristics for potential use in inflammation-related disorders.

The full study was co-authored by Takumi Satoh of the Tokyo University of Technology; and by Dorit Trudler, Chang-ki Oh and Stuart Lipton of Scripps Research. Read the source news release here.

Disclaimer: This research is still in its early phase and there is no suggestion that sprinkling rosemary on everything you eat could help prevent or fight COVID-19. For the latest guidance on COVID-19, see the official CDC website.

When people ask me what I do at CIRM I sometimes half-jokingly tell them that I’m the official translator: I take complex science and turn it into everyday English. That’s important. The taxpayers of California have a right to know how their money is being spent and how it might benefit them. But that message can be even more effective when it comes from the scientists themselves.

Recently we asked some of the scientists we are funding to do research into COVID-19 to record what’s called an “elevator pitch”. This is where they prepare an explanation of their work that is in ordinary English and is quite short, short enough to say it to someone as you ride in an elevator. Hence the name.

It sounds easy enough. But it’s not. When you are used to talking in the language of science day in and day out, suddenly switching codes to talk about your work in plain English can take some practice. Also, you have spent years, often decades, on this work and to have to explain it in around one minute is no easy thing.

But our researchers rose to the challenge. Here’s some examples of just how well they did.