The grapefruit flavonoid naringenin inhibits the secretion of Hepatitis C virus(HCV) in infected cells and could offer a new approach for treating the disease, according to a Harvard Medical School study.
About 3 percent of the global population is infected with HCV, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. The current standard therapy of interferon and ribavirin is only effective in about 50 percent of cases and can cause major side effects, according to background information in the study.
Recent research suggests that HCV may be ""hitching a ride along the lipoprotein life cycle, and that compounds and dietary supplements that influence lipoprotein metabolism may also affect HCV.
In this new study, researchers demonstrated that HCV is actively secreted by infected cells while bound to a very low-density lipoprotein.
"Silencing apolipoprotein B (Apo-B) mRNA in infected cells causes a 70 percent eduction in the secretion of both ApoB-l00 and HCV.
This ApoB-dependent HCV secretion pathway suggests a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of HCV infection,"the researchers wrote.
They then tested the grapefruit flavonoid naringenin and found it reduced HCV secretion in infected cells by 80 percent.

National Marketplace News
June, 2008

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