Acacia mangium: A promising plant for isolating anti-hepatitis C virus agents
Medicinal plants are potential resources for isolating drug candidates. Various plants have been reported to possess pharmacological effects including anti-hepatitis C activities. The current study examined the anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) activities of Acacia mangium extracts in solvents with various polarities and further evaluated the mechanism of action of the extracts using Western blotting and combination treatment models.
Methods: The leaves of A. mangium were extracted in two phases, first in ethanol and then in solvents with different polarities (n-hexane, dichloromethane, and methanol). HCV-infected Huh7it-1 cells were treated with the extracts at concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 50, and 100 µg/mL.
Results: The results revealed the strong anti-HCV activities of the extracts. The 50% inhibition concentrations (IC50s) of the ethanol, n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts were of 4.6 ± 0.3, 2.9 ± 0.2, 0.2 ± 0.3, and 2.8 ± 0.2 μg/mL, respectively, and no cytotoxic effect was detected. These extracts displayed stronger effects than the positive control ribavirin. The mode of action of the ethanol extract was evaluated at 30 µg/mL, revealing that the inhibitory effect was stronger on the post-entry step than on the entry step. Western blotting revealed that the extracts decreased NS3 protein expression, indicating that virus replication was suppressed. Further evaluation illustrated that combined treatment with the ethanol extract enhanced the anti-viral activity of simeprevir.
Conclusions: These results indicated that A. mangium leaves could represent sources of anti-HCV agents.
Corresponding author: Tutik Sri Wahyuni
Grant information: This research was supported by the internal university grant of Universitas Airlangga with the grant number 407 /UN3.14/PT/2020.
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Copyright: © 2022 Wahyuni TS et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
How to cite: Wahyuni TS, Sukma NS, Permanasari AA et al. Acacia mangium: A promising plant for isolating anti-hepatitis C virus agents [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. F1000Research 2022, 11:1452 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.124947.1)
