Portulaca oleraceaL. as a Prospective Candidate Inhibitor of Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Serine Protease

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide health problem affecting about 300 million individuals. HCV causes chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and death. Many side effects are associated with the current treatment options. Natural products that can be used as anti-HCV drugs are thus of considerable potential significance. NS3 serine protease (NS3-SP) is a target for the screening of antiviral activity against HCV. The present work explores plants with anti-HCV potential, isolating possible lead compounds. Ten plants, used for medicinal purposes against different infections in rural areas of Pakistan, were collected. The cellular toxicity effects of methanolic extracts of the plants on the viability of Huh-7 cells were studied through the Trypan blue dye exclusion method. Following this, the anti-HCV potential of phytoextracts was assessed by infecting liver cells with HCV-3a-infected serum inoculum. Only the methanolic extract of Portulaca oleracea L. (PO) exhibited more than 70% inhibition. Four fractions were obtained through bioassay-guided extraction of PO. Subsequent inhibition of all organic extract fractions against NS3 serine protease was checked to track the specific target in the virus. The results showed that the PO methanolic crude and ethyl acetate extract specifically abridged the HCV NS3 protease expression in a dose-dependent fashion. Hence, PO extract and its constituents either alone or with interferon could offer a future option to treat chronic HCV.

The Contribution of Javanese Pharmacognosy to Suriname’s Traditional Medicinal Pharmacopeia: Part 2

“…An ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts of the plant also inhibited the growth of dermatophytes of the genera Trichophyton [96]. And a polysaccharide isolated from the aerial part of the plant was active against herpes simplex virus type 2 [97] and a methanolic extract of the aerial parts against hepatitis C virus genotype-3a infected in cultured Huh-7 human liver cells [98]. The apparent antiviral activities of P. oleracea, along with the above-mentioned antibacterial and antifungal properties of the plant may account for its traditional use in Suriname against conjunctivitis [5] and bronchitis [9].…”

Anti HCV activity and expression inhibition of HCC markers by protein extract from Iberis gibraltarica

“…HepG2 cells (3×10 5 cells/well) were grown in the 60mm cell culture dish. After attaining the 60-70% confluency, washed the cells with 1×PBS and infected with 500µl HCV (3a genotype) infected sera (1×10 5 IU/well) along with 500µl serum free media for 24 hours (El-Awady et al, 2006;Noreen et al, 2015). On the following day, wash the adherent cells with PBS twice and left the cells to grow for 48 hours.…”

Medicinal plant molecules against hepatitis C virus: Current status and future prospect

“…Extracts of various medicinal plant species, as well as their molecular constituents, exhibited anti‐HCV mechanism of action through inhibition of HCV protease and NS5A/NS5B enzymatic activity. A methanolic extract of Portulaca oleracea L. exhibited more than 70% inhibition against HCV NS3/4A (Noreen et al, 2015). Again, a dichloromethane extract of Artocarpus heterophyllus leaves demonstrated mild inhibition of protein expression level of NS3 and NS5A (Hafid et al, 2017).…”

“…As mentioned in Table 1, Solanum rantonnetii Carriere also demonstrated anti‐HCV activity with an IC 50 value 6.98 ± 1.41 μg/mL (Rashed et al, 2014). A methanolic extract of Portulaca oleracea L., exhibited more than 70% inhibition in HCV‐3a‐infected serum inoculum (Noreen et al, 2015). Acacia confusa Merr.…”