Clin Exp Vaccine Res. 2018 Jan;7(1):37-42. doi: 10.7774/cevr.2018.7.1.37. Epub 2018 Jan 29.
Anti-infective potential of catechins and their derivatives against viral hepatitis.Song JM1. Author information 1Department of Global Medical Science, Health & Wellness College, Sungshin University, Seoul, Korea.
AbstractPolyphenols including catechins from green tea (Camellia sinensis) have been reported to have anti-infective activities against a broad spectrum of viruses and other pathogens. During the last two decades, antiviral activities of catechins with different modes of action have been demonstrated on diverse families of viruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus, Herpes simplex virus, influenza virus, hepatitis B and C virus. In this study, we focused on the antiviral properties of catechins and their derivatives against viral hepatitis which have become a key public health issue due to their serious impact on human health with liver diseases.
Despite that vaccines and several anti-viral hepatitis drugs are available for patients with HBV and HCV, hepatotropic viral infection is still a severe public health problem in the world. In this review, many natural compounds especially polyphenol and their derivatives are already available with diverse biological activities (Table 1) and these offer a large opportunity for finding novel antiviral lead compounds or good candidates with unique anti-hepatitis viral drugs. Although there is an increasing amount of evidence that polyphenol compounds have anti-hepatitis viral effects to date, but they are limited to cell-based or animal-based studies. So it needs to be carefully assessed whether data from animal experiments are relevant to human, and future efforts should be devoted to optimize and develop for clinical application. When some of these compounds become clinically available, a new path for chemoprevention of hepatotropic viral infection will be opened and control of liver diseases could be dramatically improved.