Hepatitis C virus is a blood borne pathogen of global public health significance with an estimated prevalence of 200 million. HCV infections world-wide is predicted to be 3 to 4 million new cases each year. Chronic HCV infection is the leading cause of liver related morbidity and mortality as it progresses to chronic liver disease with sequelae including fibrosis, cirrhosis, steatosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There are no vaccines against HCV and no specific or effective therapy broadly targeting all genotypes. Treatment of chronic hepatitis infection is of crucial clinical importance, since current therapy of pegylated interferon α (PEG-IFN-α) in combination with ribavirin has found limited patient compliance due to severe adverse effects.Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel anti-HCV compounds that can complement the existing drug arsenal. NS5 B. HCV NS5B, the viral RdRp is a key component of the viral replication machinery with no functional equivalent in the host. It therefore represents an attractive target for drug design. Stereochemically well-defined flavonoids present in the okra seed extracts (OSE) were used to identify their potential to inhibit HCV replication by targeting the viral polymerase. In preliminary experiments we have identified the potency of okra seed extract to inhibit HCV replication by targeting the viral polymerase NS5B. In vitro NS5B RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) Inhibition by OkraSeed Extract provided IC50 values = 12 µg and NS5B X RNA Cross Linking at increasing amounts of Okra Seed Extract (X-Linking50 = 4.5 µg). We will evaluate the biochemical and mechanistic characteristics of OSE. This will help us to better understand their mode of anti-NS5B action in in vitro, in cell based HCV replicon assays and employ the infectious HCV genotype 1b tissue culture model and evaluation of IC50 values. The burden of HCV virus and other similar viral diseases is very high in United States and in India. Alternative and complementary medical treatment to the existing problem of hepatitis C virus is vital. Such studies will be helpful to conduct similar research and investigate the use of okra seeds extracts for combating the menacing problem of Dengue virus in India as well as in other parts of the world. 2015 New York Times article cited a wider access to costly Hepatitis C Drugs. Available drugs to treat HCV infection are Sovaldi and Harvoni cost $84,000 per person over the course of treatment.

Bioactive compounds in okra seed extract as novel anti-hepatitis C virus agents

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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