Griseofulvin, an oral antifungal agent, suppresses hepatitis C virus replication in vitro

Aim:  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)α 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 IFNα 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. Conclusion:  Our results suggest that griseofulvin may represent a new approach to the development of a novel therapy for HCV infection.