New Chinese herbal medicine could help treat Hepatitis C
Scientists have revealed that a new Chinese herbal medicine could the significant potential of treating Hepatitis C.
The researchers have found that a new compound, SBEL1, which has been isolated from Chinese herbal medicines, has the ability to inhibit hepatitis C virus (HCV) activity in cells at several points in the virus’ lifecycle.
The study showed that the compound could inhibit HCV activity by approximately 90 percent.
The scientists, who pre-treated human liver cells in vitro with SBEL1 prior to HCV infection, found that SBEL1 pre-treated cells contained 23 percent less HCV protein than the control, suggesting that SBEL1 blocks virus entry.
Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, Secretary-General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver and Associate Professor of Medicine, said that people infected with hepatitis C are at risk of developing severe liver damage including liver cancer and cirrhosis and that SBEL1 has demonstrated significant inhibition of HCV at multiple stages of the viral lifecycle.
Source: Hong Kong Herald
Published: 13 Apr 2014
