Common over the counter antihistamine chlorcyclizine can treat Hepatitis C virus infection, a new study reports. Hepatitis C causes chronic viral infection, and many individuals are unaware of their infection status as often there are no symptoms. However, if left untreated Hepatitis C infection can lead to the development of liver diseases. Studies speculate that up to 50% of hepatocellular carcinoma incidents, one of the main causes of cancer-related death is the US, are due to chronic and untreated Hepatitis C infection.
At present there is no effective vaccine for Hepatitis C virus. Therapeutic treatments are available and involve a combination of drugs. The treatment of Hepatitis C is very costly with some direct acting drugs costing up to 80,000 USD per patient. Also, some of the drugs are targeted towards specific genotypes of the virus and do no treat all types of Hepatitis C infection. Thus, there is an immense requirement to find and develop new effective and affordable therapy for Hepatitis C infection.
In this study published in prestigious Science Translational Medicine journal, the authors screened many FDA-approved drugs for their activity against Hepatitis C. They observed some H1-antihistamines that were effective. Of these chlorcyclizine HCl (CCZ), showed high antiviral activity.
Histamines are chemical compounds released during allergic reactions, and H-1 antihistamines are the compounds that oppose the activity of a particular histamine receptor – H1 receptor, in this case, thus helping in reducing allergy symptoms. These are available as over the counter medications. The authors suggested that CCZ exerts its effect by inhibiting early stages of viral infection however they could not confirm which exact stage and further studies are need to understand that. As Hepatitis C treatment, in general, involves many anti-Hepatitis C drugs, the authors wanted to know if CCZ could be used together with those drugs. So, they performed assays to evaluate the effectiveness of CCZ in combination with common anti-Hepatitis C drugs, they observed that combination led to higher anti-Hepatitis C effect than using single drugs. To assess the specificity of CCZ against Hepatitis C, the authors tested 13 other viruses including Herpes Simplex 1, influenza A and hepatitis A virus and noted that CCZ showed no antiviral activity against them. Last but not the least the authors tested if the use of CCZ would lead to the development of viral resistance. For this, they used a chimeric mouse model and exposed it to Hepatitis C virus. They did not observe any rebound during the treatment period of 4-6 weeks, and viral titers continued to decrease. These results suggest the lack of emergence of any drug-resistant strain.
The results of this study are encouraging, and the authors hope that h1 antihistamines might provide an affordable treatment option for Hepatitis C. Thorough clinical studies of CCZ are needed to determine their effectiveness in treating the virus.
At present there is no effective vaccine for Hepatitis C virus. Therapeutic treatments are available and involve a combination of drugs. The treatment of Hepatitis C is very costly with some direct acting drugs costing up to 80,000 USD per patient. Also, some of the drugs are targeted towards specific genotypes of the virus and do no treat all types of Hepatitis C infection. Thus, there is an immense requirement to find and develop new effective and affordable therapy for Hepatitis C infection.
In this study published in prestigious Science Translational Medicine journal, the authors screened many FDA-approved drugs for their activity against Hepatitis C. They observed some H1-antihistamines that were effective. Of these chlorcyclizine HCl (CCZ), showed high antiviral activity.
Histamines are chemical compounds released during allergic reactions, and H-1 antihistamines are the compounds that oppose the activity of a particular histamine receptor – H1 receptor, in this case, thus helping in reducing allergy symptoms. These are available as over the counter medications. The authors suggested that CCZ exerts its effect by inhibiting early stages of viral infection however they could not confirm which exact stage and further studies are need to understand that. As Hepatitis C treatment, in general, involves many anti-Hepatitis C drugs, the authors wanted to know if CCZ could be used together with those drugs. So, they performed assays to evaluate the effectiveness of CCZ in combination with common anti-Hepatitis C drugs, they observed that combination led to higher anti-Hepatitis C effect than using single drugs. To assess the specificity of CCZ against Hepatitis C, the authors tested 13 other viruses including Herpes Simplex 1, influenza A and hepatitis A virus and noted that CCZ showed no antiviral activity against them. Last but not the least the authors tested if the use of CCZ would lead to the development of viral resistance. For this, they used a chimeric mouse model and exposed it to Hepatitis C virus. They did not observe any rebound during the treatment period of 4-6 weeks, and viral titers continued to decrease. These results suggest the lack of emergence of any drug-resistant strain.
The results of this study are encouraging, and the authors hope that h1 antihistamines might provide an affordable treatment option for Hepatitis C. Thorough clinical studies of CCZ are needed to determine their effectiveness in treating the virus.
