Inhibition effect of Chinese herbal medicine on transcription of hepatitis C virus structural gene in vitro.

AIM: To investigate the inhibitory effect of Chinese herbal medicine on the transcription of hepatitis C virus (HCV) structural gene in Hela D cells. METHODS: Hela cell line was transfected with recombinant pBK-CMV-HCV containing HCV structural gene by Lipofectamine. RT-nested-PCR and Western blot assay were used to testify the HCV gene expression in Hela cells. The Hela cells expressing HCV structural protein were named Hela D cells. Prescriptions of Xiao chaihu Decoction (XCHD), Fufang Huangqi (FFHQ) and Bingganling (BGL) were respectively added to Hela D cells in various concentrations. Semi-quantitative RT-nested-PCR product analysis was performed according to the fluorescent density between HCV DNA band and GAPDH DNA band in gel electrophoresis after screened. RESULTS: Recombinant pBK-CMV-HCV could correctly express the HCV structural gene in Hela D cells. After co-culture of Hela D cells with three prescriptional different concentrations for 48 h respectively, the transcription of HCV gene decreased with increasing of the concentration of each prescription. The lightness ratio of HCV product bands to GAPDH product bands was 0.24, 0.10 and 0.12 in Hela D cells incubated with 0.1 g/mL of XCHD, FFHQ and BGL respectively and the lightness ratio HCV product bands to GAPDH product bands was 0.75, 0.67 and 0.61 respectively in the control cells. CONCLUSION: The prescriptions of XCHD, FFHQ and BGL partly inhibit the transcription of HCV structural gene in Hela D cells.