Virtual Screening and Experimental Validation of Bioactive Constituents from Selected Medicinal Plants of Western Ghats Region against Hepatitis B Virus and its Associated Complications

Abstract

Introduction: Traditional medicines are widely utilized in the Western Ghats region of India to treat various liver diseases and viral-like infections. However, such practices lack scientific evidences and mechanisms of actions at the molecular level. To date, HIV-reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors are used to manage hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection due to its functional similarity and conserved active site motif with HBV-RT, and these inhibitors pose severe side effects, development of drug resistance, and are also expensive. Objective: This study intends to identify phytocompounds having druggability and non-toxic profiles with potential activity against HBV protein targets and HBV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by in silico, in vitro, and in vivo studies.