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(−)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits the replication cycle of hepatitis C virus

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Abstract

(−)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant catechin in green tea. In this study, we found that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was significantly suppressed by EGCG in an HCV cell culture (HCVcc) system using a JFH1-GFP chimeric virus, with a 50 % effective concentration (EC50) of 17.9 μM. The inhibitory activity of EGCG was confirmed by monitoring HCV RNA and protein expression levels in Huh7.5.1 cells infected with the JFH1 virus. Moreover, we demonstrated that the inhibitory mechanisms of EGCG were attributable to the suppression of both the HCV entry and RNA replication steps, although EGCG had little effect on translation directed by the viral internal ribosome entry site (IRES). Furthermore, HCV could be rapidly eliminated from cell cultures after two and five passages in the presence of 50 and 25 μM EGCG, respectively. These results indicate that EGCG is a potential candidate as a preventive and antiviral drug for HCV infection.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. T. Wakita (National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan) for providing the JFH1 plasmid, Dr. F. V. Chisari (The Scripps Research Institute, USA) for providing the Huh7.5.1 cells, Dr. C. M. Rice (Rockefeller University, USA) for providing the anti-NS5A 9E10 antibody, Dr. R. Bartenschlager (Heidelberg University, Germany) for providing the pFKI389neo/NS3-3′ plasmid and the Huh7-Lunet cells, and Dr. C.Y. Li (Henan Biotechnology Research Center, China) for providing the anti-NS3 antibody. This work was supported by the National Key Programs on Infectious Disease (2008ZX10001-002) and the Major Science and Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX1-YW-10).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430071, People’s Republic of China

    Chao Chen, Hui Qiu, Jian Gong, Qing Liu, Han Xiao, Xin-Wen Chen, Bin-Lian Sun & Rong-Ge Yang

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  1. Chao Chen
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Correspondence to Rong-Ge Yang.

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Chen, C., Qiu, H., Gong, J. et al. (−)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits the replication cycle of hepatitis C virus. Arch Virol 157, 1301–1312 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-012-1304-0

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