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Artesunate, an anti-malarial drug, has a potential to inhibit HCV replication

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Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major global health issue. Although the search for HCV treatments has resulted in great achievements, the current treatment methods have limitations, and new methods and drugs for hepatitis C treatment are still required. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of artesunate (ART) on HCV replication and compared these effects with those of ribavirin (RBV) and interferon-2b (IFN). The study was performed in HCV-infection cell models (JFH1-infected Huh7.5.1 and OR6 cell lines). Our results showed that the antimalarial drug ART inhibited HCV replicon replication in a dose- and time-dependent manner at a concentration that had no effect on the proliferation of exponentially growing host cells, and the inhibitory effect on HCV replication was stronger than RBV but weaker than IFN, as determined by qPCR, luciferase assays, and Western blot analysis. Furthermore, the combination of ART and IFN resulted in a greater inhibition of HCV replication. These findings demonstrated that ART had an inhibitive effect on HCV replication and may be a novel supplemental co-therapy with IFN and RBV for HCV and as an alternative strategy to combat resistance mechanisms that have emerged in the presence of DAA agents.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Chung (Harvard University) for providing Huh7.5.1 cells and JFH1 and Dr. Zhao (Chinese Academy of Sciences) for providing OR6 cells. This work was supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Fund of China (81370542), Chinese National Key Clinical Specialty Project (No. 2013), and Chinese National Science and Technology Major Project (No. 2008ZX10202, http://www.nmp.gov.cn/) to GZ Gong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin Zhong Road, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, China

    Rongjuan Dai, Xinqiang Xiao, Feng Peng, Mingming Li & Guozhong Gong

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  1. Rongjuan Dai
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  2. Xinqiang Xiao
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  3. Feng Peng
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  4. Mingming Li
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  5. Guozhong Gong
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Correspondence to Guozhong Gong.

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Edited by Paul Schnitzler.

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Dai, R., Xiao, X., Peng, F. et al. Artesunate, an anti-malarial drug, has a potential to inhibit HCV replication. Virus Genes 52, 22–28 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-015-1285-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-015-1285-7

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