Antiviral activity of Acacia nilotica against Hepatitis C Virus in liver infected cells

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) belonging to the family Flaviviridae has infected 3% of the population worldwide and 6% of the population in Pakistan. The only recommended standard treatment is pegylated INF-α plus ribavirin. Due to less compatibility of the standard treatment, thirteen medicinal plants were collected from different areas of Pakistan on the basis of undocumented antiviral reports against different viral infections. Medicinal plants were air dried, extracted and screened out against HCV by infecting HCV inoculums of 3a genotype in liver cells. RT-PCR results demonstrate that acetonic and methanolic extract of Acacia nilotica (AN) showed more than 50% reduction at non toxic concentration. From the above results, it can be concluded that by selecting different molecular targets, specific structure-activity relationship can be achieved by doing mechanistic analysis. So, additional studies are required for the isolation and recognition of antiviral compound in AN to establish its importance as antiviral drug against HCV. For further research, we will scrutinize the synergistic effect of active antiviral compound in combination with standard PEG INF-α and ribavirin which may be helpful in exploring further gateways for antiviral therapy against HCV.

Figure 1

Toxicity of extract of AN: Huh-7 cells were incubated at different concentrations of the herbal extracts. At the end of incubation period, absorbance readings were taken through microplate sepectrophotometer

Figure 2

Anti-HCV activity of methaolic extract AN: Huh-7 cells were incubated with HCV serum and 100 μg concentration of the for 24 h. At the end of incubation period, total RNA was extracted by Gentra kit, and the levels of HCV RNA remaining were determined by the Quantitative RT-PCR assay and are shown as a percentage relative to the levels of HCV RNA in cells incubated without compound (control).

Figure 3

Anti-HCV activity of acetonic and n-hexane fractions of AN: Huh-7 cells were incubated with HCV serum and 50 μg/μl concentration of the herbal extract in different solvents for 24 hours. At the end of incubation period, total RNA was extracted by Gentra kit, and the levels of HCV RNA remaining were determined by the Quantitative RT-PCR assay and are shown as a percentage relative to the levels of HCV RNA in cells incubated without compound (control).