Immunomodulatory Efficacy-Mediated Anti-HCV and Anti-HBV Potential of Kefir Grains; Unveiling the In Vitro Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Wound Healing Activities

The utilization of fermented foods with health-promoting properties is becoming more popular around the world. Consequently, kefir, a fermented milk beverage made from kefir grains, was shown in numerous studies to be a probiotic product providing significant health benefits. Herein, we assessed the antibacterial and antifungal potential of kefir against a variety of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. This study also showed the effectiveness of kefir in healing wounds in human gastric epithelial cells (GES-1) by (80.78%) compared with control (55.75%) within 48 h. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results of kefir-treated HCV- or HBV- infected cells found that 200 µg/mL of kefir can eliminate 92.36% of HCV and 75.71% of HBV relative to the untreated infected cells, whereas 800 µg/mL (the highest concentration) completely eradicated HCV and HBV. Moreover, the estimated IC₅₀ values of kefir, at which HCV and HBV were eradicated by 50%, were 63.84 ± 5.81 µg/mL and 224.02 ± 14.36 µg/mL, correspondingly. Kefir can significantly suppress the elevation of TNF-α and upregulate IL-10 and INF-γ in both treated HCV- and HBV-infected cells. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of kefir revealed the presence of numerous active metabolites which mainly contribute to the antimicrobial, antiviral, and immunomodulatory activities. This study demonstrated, for the first time, the anti-HBV efficacy of kefir while also illustrating the immunomodulatory impact in the treated HBV-infected cells. Accordingly, kefir represents a potent antiviral agent against both viral hepatitis C and B, as well as having antimicrobial and wound healing potential.

Synthesis and In Vitro anti-HCV and Antitumor Evaluation of Schisandronic Acid Derivatives

BACKGROUND

Schisandronic acid (SA), a triterpenoid from fruits of Schisandra sphenanthera, inhibited pan-genotypic HCV entry into human hepatocytes by interfering with virion-cell membrane fusion. It was a promising lead compound for the development of novel HCV entry inhibition agents.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study is to search for compounds with more potent anti-HCV and antitumor activities and explore SARs. A series of novel derivatives of SA were designed and synthesized and evaluated for in vitro, their anti-HCV and antitumor activities.

METHODS

SA derivatives were synthesized by reduction, condensation, esterification or amidation. The anti-HCV activity of title compounds was tested by inhibition on HCVcc infection of Huh7 cells, and a preliminary MOA study was conducted by determining inhibition on HCVpp entry into Huh7 cells. The antitumor activity in vitro was determined by MTT methods.

RESULTS

In total, 24 novel derivatives were synthesized. Most of the compounds inhibited HCVcc infection. Compounds 5h and 6 showed the most potent anti-HCVcc activities and inhibition of HCVpp entry into Huh7 cells without obvious cytotoxicity. Most of the title compounds showed potent in vitro antitumor activities against Bel7404 and SMMC7721 tumor cell lines. Compounds 5j and 6 exhibited more potent antitumor activity than positive control SA and DOX.

CONCLUSION

Structural modification of SA could lead to the discovery of potent anti-HCV or antitumor agents. Compounds 5h, 5j and 6 were promising lead compounds for development of novel HCV entry inhibition or antitumor agents.

Speeding up Early Drug Discovery in Antiviral Research: A Fragment-Based in Silico Approach for the Design of Virtual Anti-Hepatitis C Leads

Hepatitis C constitutes an unresolved global health problem. This infectious disease is caused by the hepatotropic hepatitis C virus (HCV), and it can lead to the occurrence of life-threatening medical conditions, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Nowadays, major clinical concerns have arisen because of the appearance of multidrug resistance (MDR) and the side effects especially associated with long-term treatments. In this work, we report the first multitasking model for quantitative structure-biological effect relationships (mtk-QSBER), focused on the simultaneous exploration of anti-HCV activity and in vitro safety profiles related to the absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity (ADMET). The mtk-QSBER model was created from a data set formed by 40 158 cases, displaying accuracy higher than 95% in both training and prediction (test) sets. Several molecular fragments were selected, and their quantitative contributions to anti-HCV activity and ADMET profiles were calculated. By combining the analysis of the fragments with positive contributions and the physicochemical meanings of the different molecular descriptors in the mtk-QSBER, six new molecules were designed. These new molecules were predicted to exhibit potent anti-HCV activity and desirable in vitro ADMET properties. In addition, the designed molecules have good druglikeness according to the Lipinski's rule of five and its variants.

Synthesis and Anti-HCV Activity of a Novel 2',3'-Dideoxy-2'-α-fluoro-2'-β-C-methyl Guanosine Phosphoramidate Prodrug

A novel 2',3'-dideoxy-2'-α-fluoro-2'-β-C-methyl-6-methoxy guanosine (8) and its phosphoramidate prodrug (1) have been designed and synthesized. Their biological activity was evaluated in both cytotoxicity and cell-based HCV replicon assays. Neither compounds exhibited cytotoxicity up to the highest concentration tested (100 μM) in the Huh-7 cell line. The prodrug (1) displayed nanomolar level antiviral activity (EC₅₀ = 0.39-1.1 μM) against the HCV genotype (GT) 1a, 1b, 2a, and 1b S282T replicons.