PJB-2020-185
Anti-HCV activity of Rumex hastatus and Cissampelos pariera Extracts in Replicating Human Hepatocytes
Sidra Rehman
Abstract
Despite the availability of many effective direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) still chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global epidemic issue. Major reason behind this is non-availability to local community of particularly middle- and low-income countries due to sky-high prices. Current research study aimed to describe local medicinal flora that ameliorate HCV infection. Rumex hastatus (RH) and Cissampelos pariera (CP) extracts were tested for their cell safety analysis using MTT and trypan exclusion assay. HepG2 cells were transiently transfected with pCR3.1/ FLAGtag/core gene plasmid in the presence and absence of RH and CP extracts to analyse the preventive effect of extracts against viral core gene and impact of TGF-β1 in controlling HCV assembly within hepatocytes. Extracts exhibited considerable viability of cells suggesting their safety usage. In in vitro transfection assays, RH and CP extracts were shown to have profound effect on inhibition of HCV core gene expression. Pre-treatment of cells with extracts reduced the HCV core and TGF-β1 RNA expression level in transfected cells. Research findings demonstrate the pharmaceutical potential of local medicinal plants to control HCV replication by modulating host genes as well. Targeting the tumour promoting host factors may provide a promising approach to treat HCV-related pathogenesis effectively.
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