Fig. 3

The herbal infusions exerted comparable antiviral effects to IFNβ and remdesivir and outperformed IFNα2 upon short-term treatment. A, B Pooled icELISA data of SARS-CoV-2-infected cells (A, Vero E6, 3 independent experiments; B, Caco-2, 2 independent experiments) after treatment with herbal infusions or remdesivir at 1 h p.i. for 1 h. Vero E6 and Caco-2 were fixed at 24 h p.i. and stained with α-S and α-N, respectively. Data are expressed as relative change in optical density compared to the untreated control. The treated conditions were compared to the untreated control by one-way ANOVA. *, p < 0.05. **, p < 0.01. ***, p < 0.001. C icELISA data of SARS-CoV-2-infected Caco-2 cells after treatment with herbal infusions or indicated interferons at 1 h p.i. for 1.5 h. Cells were fixed at 30 h p.i. and stained with α-S mAb. Each condition was analyzed in triplicate. See Additional file 1 for individual data values. The treated conditions were compared to the untreated control by one-way ANOVA. *, p < 0.05. **, p < 0.01. ***, p < 0.001. D icELISA data of SARS-CoV-2-infected Caco-2 cells after treatment with IFNβ or herbal infusions (P, perilla; S, sage) at 1 h p.i. for 1.5 h in the absence or presence of the Janus kinase inhibitor ruxolitinib (4 µM). See Additional file 1 for individual data values. The treated conditions were compared to the untreated control by one-way ANOVA. ***, p < 0.001