A team of researchers from the CSIC has co-discovered that an enzyme present in the white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), called tyrosinase, has antiviral activity against the hepatitis C virus through an inhibition mechanism different from that of the usual drugs. This finding, made in vitro and published in the journal Pharmaceuticals, could contribute to the development of promising therapeutic agents.
“In this case, the inhibition of the virus proteases occurs through a biocatalytic mechanism based on a selective hydroxylation of surface tyrosines of proteins involved in virus replication,” explains José Miguel Palomo, a CSIC researcher at the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemicals (ICP-CSIC), which has co-directed the study in collaboration with researchers Olga Abián and Adrián Velázquez from the University of Zaragoza.
From the test of this method in vitro, the researchers have shown that mushroom tyrosinase, and particularly an isoform, a variant of the enzyme itself, are efficient at micromolar concentrations, that is, one millionth of the mass of the molecules. . These completely inhibit the replication of the hepatitis C virus in human liver cells. In fact, highlights the researcher, the isoform has an antiviral capacity up to ten times higher than that of the commercial drug Ribavirin, currently used in combination in many treatments.
Potential use in future inexpensive hepatitis treatments
In addition, the results obtained in this study have shown that the enzymes extracted directly from the mushroom do not present toxicity in liver cells, so they could be used as proteins for the treatment of infection caused by hepatitis C. Therefore, this preparation of tyrosinases could become a promising therapeutic agent. “We could provide a very low-cost drug to treat the virus, which could be used as a substitute or in combination with other drugs,” says Palomo.
The researcher insists on the great reduction in costs that the manufacture of a drug from mushroom tyrosinases would entail, since current treatments cost around €60,000 per patient.
The research group seeks to continue advancing and develop in vivo tests for this type of compound to demonstrate its potential as a drug. To do this, they say, they are open to collaboration with other interested research groups, as well as with private companies.
The research, already patented, continues with the aim of obtaining a drug against hepatitis C, which in 2019 killed nearly 290,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, the research group points out that this new mechanism of viral inhibition of mushroom tyrosinase is postulated as a broad-spectrum pharmacological agent.
.
