Gallic acid decreases hepatitis C virus expression through its antioxidant capacity

Abstract

Gallic acid (GA) is a natural phenolic compound that possesses various biological effects, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anticancer, antiviral and cardiovascular protection activities. In addition, numerous studies have reported that antioxidants possess antiviral activities. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the most important causes of chronic liver diseases worldwide, but until recently, only a small number of antiviral agents had been developed against HCV. Therefore, the present study investigated whether GA exhibits an anti-HCV activity. The effects of GA on HCV expression were examined using a subgenomic HCV replicon cell culture system that expressed HCV nonstructural proteins (NSs). In addition, GA cytotoxicity was evaluated at concentrations between 100-600 mg/ml using an MTT assay. Huh-7 replicon cells were incubated with 300 mg/ml GA for different times, and the HCV-RNA and protein levels were measured by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) was used as an antioxidant control and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured during the exposure. The results indicated that GA did not produce a statistically significant cytotoxicity in parental and HCV replicon cells. Furthermore, GA downregulated the expression levels of NS5A-HCV protein (~55%) and HCV-RNA (~50%) in a time-dependent manner compared with the levels in untreated cells. Notably, GA treatment decreased ROS production at the early time points of exposure in cells expressing HCV proteins. Similar results were obtained upon PDTC exposure. These findings suggest that the antioxidant capacity of GA may be involved in the downregulation of HCV replication in hepatoma cells.

Antiviral activity of Sambucus FormosanaNakai ethanol extract and related phenolic acid constituents against human coronavirus NL63

“…Chlorogenic acid and gallic acid have also been demonstrated to suppress the in vitro and in vivo replication of influenza A virus, enterovirus 71 and hepatitis B and C viruses (Ding et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2009;You et al, 2018;Govea-Salas et al, 2016). Chlorogenic acid specifically inhibited the neuraminidase activity of influenza A viruses H1N1 and H3N2 that was the crucial mechanism of chlorogenic acid for blocking the release of progeny virions from infected cells (Ding et al, 2017).…”

“…Chlorogenic acid specifically inhibited the neuraminidase activity of influenza A viruses H1N1 and H3N2 that was the crucial mechanism of chlorogenic acid for blocking the release of progeny virions from infected cells (Ding et al, 2017). Gallic acid served the antioxidant capacity that linked with down-regulating the genomic RNA and proteins expression of hepatitis C virus (Govea-Salas et al, 2016). Therefore, the phenolic acid constituents of Sambucus Formosana Nakai extract, like caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and gallic acid, play the key antiviral components against HCoV-NL63 and the other viruses.…”

Antihepatitis C Virus Activity of Indonesian Mahogany (Toona Sureni)

“…Gallic acid reduced the level of reactive oxygen species generated by strong oxidizing agent, such as H 2 O 2 , which could inhibit viral replication. This compound attenuates the translation rate of viral proteins or decreases the stability of viral protein [25]. Moreover, gallic acid was reported to inhibit several other viruses such as influenza virus, foodborne viral surrogates, murine norovirus-1, and feline calicivirus-F9 [26,27].…”

“…Moreover, gallic acid was reported to inhibit several other viruses such as influenza virus, foodborne viral surrogates, murine norovirus-1, and feline calicivirus-F9 [26,27]. The antiviral activities of gallic acid might be caused by the hydrophobic interaction between the functional group (hydroxyl) and virion components, bind to free radicals and exert an antioxidant effect [25]. …”

Some Mexican Plants Used in Traditional Medicine

“…In contrast, for PWR-1E prostate epithelial cells that are not cancerous have no significant change, indicating that GA has a selective toxicity to cancer cells of prostate cancer. Besides, gallic acid treatment was found to diminish the cellular oxidative stress by decreasing ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) production and hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation and also decrease hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in Huh7 replicon cells decreasing the expression of nonstructural HCV proteins of the virus [47].…”