日本研究人員8日宣布，他們?cè)谒{(lán)莓的葉子中發(fā)現(xiàn)一種化學(xué)物質(zhì)，可以阻止丙肝病毒的復(fù)制，從而延緩或阻止疾病發(fā)作。這項(xiàng)研究有助于科學(xué)家研發(fā)新的丙肝療法,。
日本宮崎大學(xué)的研究人員在美國(guó)新一期《生物化學(xué)雜志》上報(bào)告說(shuō)，潛伏在人體內(nèi)的丙肝病毒有些需要20年甚至以上的時(shí)間才會(huì)發(fā)病,，他們因此設(shè)想可能是某種食物補(bǔ)充劑延緩或阻止了疾病的發(fā)作,。研究人員檢查了近300種農(nóng)產(chǎn)品，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)在藍(lán)莓葉子中有一種名為原花青素的物質(zhì)可以阻止丙肝病毒的復(fù)制,，從而達(dá)到延緩或阻止疾病發(fā)作的目的,。
過(guò)量的原花青素對(duì)人體有害，但研究人員表示,，使用它對(duì)抗丙肝病毒的劑量是安全的,。類似原花青素的物質(zhì)在很多可食用植物中都能夠找到，他們認(rèn)為,，原花青素可以作為一種對(duì)抗丙肝病毒的安全食物補(bǔ)充劑,。
研究人員希望下一步能弄清楚原花青素阻止丙肝病毒復(fù)制的機(jī)制。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 284, Issue 32, 21165-21176, August 7, 2009
Proanthocyanidin from Blueberry Leaves Suppresses Expression of Subgenomic Hepatitis C Virus RNA*
Masahiko Takeshita, Yo-ichi Ishida, Ena Akamatsu, Yusuke Ohmori?, Masayuki Sudoh?, Hirofumi Uto||, Hirohito Tsubouchi||, and Hiroaki Kataoka**1
From the From the Research Division, Minami Nippon Dairy Co-op Co., Ltd., Miyazaki 885-0073, , the Miyazaki Prefectural Industrial Support Foundation, Miyazaki 880-0303, , the ?Kamakura Research Laboratories, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Kanagawa 247-8530, , the ||Department of Digestive Disease and Life-style Related Disease, Health Research Human and Environmental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Graduate School of Medicine and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima 890-8520, and , the **Section of Oncopathology and Regenerative Biology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan
ABSTRACT
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of chronic liver disease such as chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. While searching for new natural anti-HCV agents in agricultural products, we found a potent inhibitor of HCV RNA expression in extracts of blueberry leaves when examined in an HCV subgenomic replicon cell culture system. This activity was observed in a methanol extract fraction of blueberry leaves and was purified by repeated fractionations in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The final purified fraction showed a 63-fold increase in specific activity compared with the initial methanol extracts and was composed only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Liquid chromatography/mass-ion trap-time of flight analysis and butanol-HCl hydrolysis analysis of the purified fraction revealed that the blueberry leaf-derived inhibitor was proanthocyanidin. Furthermore, structural analysis using acid thiolysis indicated that the mean degree of polymerization of the purified proanthocyanidin was 7.7, consisting predominantly of epicatechin. Proanthocyanidin with a polymerization degree of 8 to 9 showed the greatest potency at inhibiting the expression of subgenomic HCV RNA. Purified proanthocyanidin showed dose-dependent inhibition of expression of the neomycin-resistant gene and the NS-3 protein gene in the HCV subgenome in replicon cells. While characterizing the mechanism by which proanthocyanidin inhibited HCV subgenome expression, we found that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 showed affinity to blueberry leaf-derived proanthocyanidin and was indispensable for HCV subgenome expression in replicon cells. These data suggest that proanthocyanidin isolated from blueberry leaves may have potential usefulness as an anti-HCV compound by inhibiting viral replication.
