Blueberry hope for liver virus
Monday August 10th, 2009
A blueberry plant may hold the key to treating the highly infectious liver virus, hepatitis C, researchers have reported.
Japanese researchers found a powerful anti-hepatitis chemical in the leaves of the rabbit-eye blueberry, which is found in the south-eastern USA.
The berry was one of 300 plants tested by the researchers in the laboratory.
Reporting in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers say the compound that might slow the progresss of the disease is proanthocyandin.
As hepatitis C generally takes years to cause damage to the liver, a safe pill that could be taken regularly to stop its spread could make a big difference to the 200 million people infected worldwide.
Researcher Dr Hiroaki Kataoka, of the University of Miyazaki, set out to find a treatment because of the high rates of hepatitis C infection in parts of southern Japan.
He writes: "Its effective concentration against HCV was 100 times less than the toxic threshold, and similar chemicals are found in many edible plants, suggesting it should be safe as a dietary supplement."
J. Biol. Chem..2009; 284: 21165-21176
* A molecule has been identified which may indicate the first stage of cells becoming cancerous.
Experts looked at the behaviour of a DNA damage repair enzyme called ALC1 (Amplified in Liver Cancer 1) which is found in excessive amounts in half of liver cancers.
The enzyme normally loosens tightly-packaged genetic information, called chromatin, when there is a fault in DNA. Once chromatin is loosened, the damaged DNA is exposed to repair molecules.
Dr Simon Boulton and colleagues at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute have now found that too much ALC1 can over-relax the chromatin, making the DNA vulnerable to mistakes. This can raise the risk of cancer developing, they warn.
ALC1 could therefore be a useful "marker" molecule for detecting pre-cancerous changes in liver cells, they explain in the journal Science.
Dr Boulton said: "We know that ALC1 is present in greater amounts in half of liver cancers and this research suggests it could be developed as a future test to detect pre-cancerous changes in liver cells.
"So far ALC1 is known to be produced in greater amounts in liver cancer cells - so we need to carry out more experiments to see if this also happens in other cancers."
Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK commented: "This research is particularly exciting. Liver cancer is difficult to treat so this makes it even more important to investigate ways to detect precancerous changes in cells in order to catch liver cancer before it has had a chance to fully develop.
"This research is a fantastic example of how science has the potential to have a direct impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment for the future."
Ahel, I. et al. Poly(ADP-ribose)-Dependent Regulation of DNA Repair by the Chromatin Remodelling Enzyme ALC1. Science, published online August 6, 2009.
Tags: Asia | Flu & Viruses | Internal Medicine | North America | Nutrition & Healthy Eating
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