Green tea phenolic epicatechins inhibit hepatitis C virus replication via cycloxygenase-2 and attenuate virus-induced inflammation.

Autor: Ying-Ting Lin, Yu-Hsuan Wu, Chin-Kai Tseng, Chun-Kuang Lin, Wei-Chun Chen, Yao-Chin Hsu, Jin-Ching Lee
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 1, p e54466 (2013)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054466
Popis: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and chronic liver disease worldwide. Green tea, in addition to being consumed as a healthy beverage, contains phenolic catechins that have been used as medicinal substances. In the present study, we illustrated that the epicatechin isomers (+)-epicatechin and (-)-epicatechin concentration-dependently inhibited HCV replication at nontoxic concentrations by using in vitro cell-based HCV replicon and JFH-1 infectious systems. In addition to significantly suppressing virus-induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression, our results revealed that the anti-HCV activity of the epicatechin isomers occurred through the down-regulation of COX-2. Furthermore, both the epicatechin isomers additively inhibited HCV replication in combination with either interferon-α or viral enzyme inhibitors [2'-C-methylcytidine (NM-107) or telaprevir]. They also had prominent anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the gene expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and inducible nitrite oxide synthase as well as the COX-2 in viral protein-expressing hepatoma Huh-7 cells. Collectively, (+)-epicatechin and (-)-epicatechin may serve as therapeutic supplements for treating HCV-related diseases.
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