The Preventive Effect of Dietary Antioxidants on Viral Infection (Coronavirus Disease-2019, Influenza and Human Papillomavirus) and the Development of Cervical Carcinogenesis

Abstract

Viral infections cause the production of radicals and reactive
oxygen species (ROS) in cells. Disbalance between ROS
generation and elimination results in oxidative stress. Oxidative
stress plays an important role in pathogenesis.1
Thus, oxidative
processes cause virus replication in infected cells, decrease cell
proliferation and induce cell apoptosis,2
leading to chain reactions
and subsequently damaging the cells of organisms.3
In contrast,
an antioxidant is any substance that significantly inhibits or delays
the oxidation of a substance.4
The role of antioxidants is also to
complete chain reactions and prevent the damage of cellular components due to free radicals and associated chemical reactions.3,4
Beck also insisted that the antioxidant selenoenzyme, glutathione
peroxidase-1, was found to be critically important, as glutathione
peroxidase knockout mice developed myocarditis, when infected
with a benign strain of myocarditis.5
This work points to the importance of host nutrition in not only optimizing the host immune
response, but also preventing viral mutations that could increase
viral pathogenesis.