The grapefruit flavonoid naringenin as a Hepatitis C virus therapy : efficacy, mechanism and delivery

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection accounts for approximately 40% of chronic liver disease in the United States and results in an estimated 8,000-10,000 deaths annually. Simulations suggest that in the next decade morbidity and mortality associated with HCV infections will result in approximately 200,000 deaths and direct medical expenditures of over $10 billion. Furthermore, recent WHO estimates of worldwide prevalence suggest that up to 2% of the world population is infected with HCV, representing between 120 and 200 million people. For reasons that are still poorly understood, the current standard of care is effective only in a subset of patients, and depends on both patient-related and disease-related characteristics. Sustained virological response (SVR) - HCV RNA in patient plasma drops below detectable levels at week 24 following completion of treatment, which is thought to be indicative of curing the disease - is attainable in only ~50% of patients. In recent years, HCV production has been shown to be inextricably linked to lipid metabolism and to the secretion of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) from hepatocytes. This suggests that by modulating lipid metabolism in the cell, viral production may be reduced in a clinically relevant manner.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Goldwasser, Jonathan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Martin L. Yarmush and Yaakov Nahmias.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/57880

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/57880