Abstract
Hepatitis C is a major global health burden with an estimated 160 million infected individuals worldwide. This long-term disease evolves slowly, often leading to chronicity and potentially to liver failure. There is no anti-HCV vaccine, and, until recently, the only treatment available, based on pegylated interferon and ribavirin, was partially effective, and had considerable side effects. With recent advances in the understanding of the HCV life cycle, the development of promising direct acting antivirals (DAAs) has been achieved. Their use in combination with the current treatment has led to encouraging results for HCV genotype 1 patients. However, this therapy is quite expensive and will probably not be accessible for all patients worldwide. For this reason, constant efforts are being made to identify new antiviral molecules. Recent reports about natural compounds highlight their antiviral activity against HCV. Here, we aim to review the natural molecules that interfere with the HCV life cycle and discuss their potential use in HCV therapy.
Highlights
Plants have been used for centuries for the treatment of human diseases
We discussed the diverse and broad actions of natural molecules issued from plants as potential anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antivirals
It is important to note that some other natural compounds, even if they do not target the virus directly, might be used to improve HCV therapy
Summary
Plants have been used for centuries for the treatment of human diseases. Historically, numerous important modern drugs have been developed from molecules originally isolated from natural. People have tried to identify more precisely the active molecules of these traditional medicines. Another approach was to systematically screen natural molecules present in plant extracts and test the activity of these phytochemicals using the appropriate assays (depending on the pathology studied). The main advantage of using natural molecules from plant extracts is a reduced cost of production, with no need of chemical synthesis This mode of production might lead to less expensive treatments, available for populations of low-income countries. Scientists have tried to analyze more precisely the active molecules present in this traditional medicine that is frequently used for the treatment of hepatitis in China [16]. The aim of this review is to give an overview of these different compounds with a special focus on the most promising molecules
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