Hepatitis C is an asymptomatic, chronic infection caused by hepatitis C virus and causes inflammation of the liver. This disease that is known to spread by blood-to-blood contact affects an estimated 270 to 300 million people worldwide.
Conventional treat
ments for Hepatitis C- interferon and ribavirin- often have side effects. This new treatment protocol hopes to target cellular proteins rather than viral proteins that cause the disease. Samuel French, an assistant professor of pathology and senior author of the study and his team set out to identify the cellular factors involved in hepatitis C replication and isolated heat shock proteins (HSPs) 40 and 70 as the causative agents for viral infection, using mass spectrometry. HSP 70 was previously known to be involved, but HSP 40 was linked for the first time to hepatitis C infection. They further showed that the natural compound Quercetin, which inhibits the synthesis of these proteins, significantly inhibits viral infection in tissue culture.
Quercetin is a natural plant-derived bioflavonoid, with known anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and is used by some people as a nutritional supplement. This compound is being investigated for a wide range of potential health benefits. Since it targets cellular proteins instead of their viral counterparts, the likelihood of developing viral resistance is greatly reduced in individuals.
“This is an important finding because we can block these proteins with the idea of reducing the level of the virus in people and, ideally, completely eliminate it,” said French. Since Quercetin has been shown to inhibit hepatitis C infection, French said, a Phase I clinical trial will be launched at UCLA to determine if the compound is safe and effective.
According to the study, French and his team used quercetin on type I hepatitis C patients who don’t respond to conventional treatments, in an attempt to block the proteins and found that the compound “reduced infectious particle production at non-toxic concentrations”.
“Quercetin may allow for the dissection of the viral life cycle and has potential therapeutic use to reduce virus production with low associated toxicity,” the study states. “A non-toxic treatment for chronic hepatitis C would be great because our current therapies have significant side effects and only a certain percentage of the patient population responds” French said.
The National Institutes of Health, the Cure Digestive Diseases Research Centre and the Stein Oppenheimer Endowment Award funded the study.
Article by Snigdha Taduri for Biomed-ME