Chinese herb may treat hepatitis C

A new Chinese herbal medicine has shown significant potential in treating hepatitis C, scientists say.
The compound, SBEL1, has the ability to inhibit hepatitis C virus activity in cells at several points in the virus' life-cycle, a new research has found.
SBEL1 is a compound isolated from Chinese herbal medicines that was found to inhibit HCV activity by approximately 90 per cent.
SBEL1 is extracted from a herb found in certain regions of Taiwan and Southern China.
In Chinese medicine, it is used to treat sore throats and inflammations. The function of SBEL1 within the plant is unknown and its role and origins are currently being investigated.

Scientists pre-treated human liver cells in vitro with SBEL1 prior to HCV infection and found that SBEL1 pre-treated cells contained 23 per cent less HCV protein than the control, suggesting that SBEL1 blocks virus entry.

The liver cells transfected with an HCV internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-driven luciferase reporter that were treated with SBEL1 reduced reporter activity by 50 per cent compared to control.
This suggests that that SBEL1 inhibits IRES-mediated translation, a critical process for viral protein production.
In addition, the HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) levels were significantly reduced by 78 per cent in HCV infected cells treated with SBEL1 compared to the control group.

This demonstrates that SBEL1 may also affect the viral RNA replication process, researchers said.
"SBEL1 has demonstrated significant inhibition of HCV at multiple stages of the viral life-cycle, which is an exciting discovery because it allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the virus and its interactions with other compounds," Professor Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, Secretary-General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver and Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Vienna, Austria, said.
The research was presented at the International Liver Congress, 2014 in London.