title: Griseofulvin, an oral antifungal agent, suppresses hepatitis C virus replication in vitro.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV), which infects an estimated 170 million people worldwide, is a major cause of chronic liver disease. The current standard therapy for chronic hepatitis C is based on pegylated interferon (IFN)alpha in combination with ribavirin. However, the success rate remains at approximately 50%. Therefore, alternative agents are needed for the treatment of HCV infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using an HCV-1b subgenomic replicon cell culture system (Huh7/Rep-Feo), we found that griseofulvin, an oral antifungal agent, suppressed HCV-RNA replication and protein expression in a dose-dependent manner. We also found that griseofulvin suppressed the replication of infectious HCV JFH-1. A combination of IFNalpha and griseofulvin exhibited a synergistic inhibitory effect in Huh7/Rep-Feo cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that griseofulvin blocked the cell cycle at the G(2)/M phase in the HCV subgenomic replicon cells, but did not inhibit HCV internal ribosome entry site-dependent translation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that griseofulvin may represent a new approach to the development of a novel therapy for HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Haofan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Atsuya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.forename: Pinting
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takayanagi
authors.forename: Takaji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakita
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito