Purification of andibenin and a chromanone analogue from rhizospheric and soil-borne exhibiting cytotoxic and antibacterial properties.

The discovery of bioactive compounds from fungal natural sources holds immense potential for the development of novel therapeutics. The present study investigates the extracts of soil-borne and rhizosphere-inhabiting for their antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxic potential. Additionally, two compounds were purified using chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques.

Phylogenetic Analysis and Emerging Drug Resistance against Different Nucleoside Analogues in Hepatitis B Virus Positive Patients.

Several nucleotide analogues have been approved for use in treating hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Long-term exposure to therapy leads to the emergence of mutations within the HBV DNA polymerase gene, resulting in drug resistance, a major factor contributing to therapy failure. Chronic HBV patients from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, who had completed 6 months of therapy participated in this study.

Circulating miRNA-192 and miR-29a as Disease Progression Biomarkers in Hepatitis C Patients with a Prevalence of HCV Genotype 3.

MicroRNAs miR-29a and miR-192 are involved in inflammatory and fibrotic processes of chronic liver disease, and circulating miR-29a is suggested to diagnose fibrosis progression due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This study aimed to evaluate the expression profile of circulating miR-192 and 29a in a patient cohort with a high frequency of HCV genotype-3. A total of 222 HCV blood samples were collected and serum were separated.

Circulating microRNA-122 in HCV cirrhotic patients with high frequency of genotype 3.

MicroRNA-122 (miR-122) is a liver abundant microRNA that is released upon liver injury. In the present study, we investigated the circulating miR-122 profiles in a Pakistani patients´ cohort with HCV chronic liver disease that was mainly based on HCV genotype 3 infections. From 222 patients with chronic HCV liver disease, classified as mild, moderate, or severe, serum samples were collected.

Aspergillus flavus originated pure compound as a potential antibacterial.

Problem Background: Penicillin was the first and most famous fungal secondary metabolite used as broad spectrum antibiotic that revolutionarised pharmaceutical research and also saved millions of lives. The over optimistic belief in 1967 that sufficient antibiotics had been discovered to defeat infectious diseases was quickly crashed with the appearance of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria in 1990s. This has posed a serious threat to mankind.

Phylogenetic analysis of the 5' untranslated region of HCV from cirrhotic patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a small, single-stranded RNA virus with a 9.6 kb genome, is one of the most common causes of liver diseases. Sequencing of the 5' untranslated region (UTR) is usually used for HCV genotyping, but it is less important in numerous subtypes due to its scarce sequence variations.

Phylogenetic Characterization of the 5' Untranslated Region of Untypable HCV Genotypes Circulating in Pakistan.

Introduction: Commercial methods for HCV genotyping is challenged by the increased prevalence of untypable genotypes in Pakistan.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to perform nucleotide sequencing of 5' UTR region for genotyping of viral isolates circulating in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Methods: The total number of commercially untypable samples were 94 in which 18 samples were sequenced for the characterization of 5' UTR region.

Core amino acid substitutions in HCV-3a isolates from Pakistan and opportunities for multi-epitopic vaccines.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), which infected 71 million worldwide and about 5%-6% are from Pakistan, is an ssRNA virus, responsible for end-stage liver disease. To date, no effective therapy is available to cure this disease. Hence, it is important to study the most prevalent genotypes infecting human population and design novel vaccine or small molecule inhibitors to control the infections associated with HCV.

Potent novel inhibitors against hepatitis C virus NS3 (HCV NS3 GT-3a) protease domain.

HCV NS3, a non-structural hepatitis C viral protein is used as one of the potential targets for inhibition by direct-acting antivirals. It is known that the success rate for HCV genotype-1 treatment remained very high, however, treatment of genotype-3a (GT-3a), is still quite challenging. In the current study, the HCV GT-3a full-length NS3 gene was amplified and sequenced.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA Dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) - A drug repurposing study.

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019 in China subsequently lead to a pandemic. Lack of vaccine and specific anti-viral drugs started a global health disaster. For a sustained control and protection, development of potential anti-viral drugs is one of the targeted approach.

Hepatitis-C Virus and Cirrhosis: An Overview from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) leads to liver cirrhosis and carcinoma worldwide. The data of HCV cirrhotic patients were collected from hospitals of Peshawar in the period from 2015 to 2018. A total sample of 267 patients, in the age limit (>19 and <87 years) were found to be cirrhotic and HCV positive.

Identification of risk factors for human immunodeficiency virus-1 infection in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa population: A case control study.

Objectives: The present study aims to identify the risk factors for Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1(HIV-1) infection in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) population by comparing HIV-antibody positive cases with HIV-antibody-negative controls.

Methods: The study was designed at the Family Care Centre (FCC), Hayatabad Medical Centre (HMC) Peshawar from February 2015 to December 2016. A total of 280 individuals were selected randomly for the study as cases and control.

Herbicidal activity of pure compound isolated from rhizosphere inhabiting Aspergillus flavus.

In the quest for bioactive natural products of fungal origin, Aspergillus flavus was isolated from rhizosphere of Mentha piperita using Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and Czapec Yeast Broth (CYB) nutrient media for metabolites production. In total, three different metabolites were purified using HPLC/LCMS and the structures were established using 500 Varian NMR experiments. Further the isolated metabolites in different concentrations (10, 100, 1000 μg/mL) were tested for herbicidal activity using Completely Randomized design (CRD) against the seeds of Silybum marianum and Avena fatua which are major threats to wheat crop in Pakistan.

Genetic history of hepatitis C virus in Pakistan.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3a accounts for ∼80% of HCV infections in Pakistan, where ∼10 million people are HCV-infected. Here, we report analysis of the genetic heterogeneity of HCV NS3 and NS5b subgenomic regions from genotype 3a variants obtained from Pakistan. Phylogenetic analyses showed that Pakistani genotype 3a variants were as genetically diverse as global variants, with extensive intermixing.

Inhibitory effect of kaolin minerals compound against hepatitis C virus in Huh-7 cell lines.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is estimated to infect 200 million individuals in the globe, including approximately 10 million in Pakistan causing both acute and chronic hepatitis. The standard treatment against HCV is pegylated interferon therapy in combination with a nucleoside analogue ribavirin. In addition, several herbal extracts and phytochemicals derivatives are used traditionally in the treatment of liver diseases as well as HCV infection.

Emergence of genetically variant Hepatitis C virus population in response to increased antiviral drug pressure, Pakistan.

Mutations in NS5B gene of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been reported in patients undergoing antiviral therapy. In the present study, we report emerging clade of HCV-3a in patients administered with IFN plus ribavirin therapy for 24 weeks and having low viral loads (<250 IU/mL). Mutations D/N244E, K304R, N/K307G, Q/T329V, and A338V were found associated with these emerging strains.

Establishment of stable Huh-7 cell lines expressing various hepatitis C virus genotype 3a protein: an in-vitro testing system for novel anti-HCV drugs.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading cause of chronic hepatitis which progresses to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) afflicting > 170 million people worldwide. HCV 3a is the most common genotype (about 70% of all genotypes) circulating in Pakistan. Expression of HCV individual gene of 3a would facilitate therapeutic and vaccines strategies against chronic HCV and liver Cirrhosis.

Evaluation of three different hepatitis C virus typing methods for detection of mixed-genotype infections.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical applicability of an eligible assay for the true prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) mixed-genotype infections.

Methods: A newly developed HCV genotyping method targeting all six major HCV genotypes and 12 subtypes, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and a serotyping assay were utilized for the detection of HCV mixed-genotype infections using known HCV genotypes and unknown samples.

Results: In a defined mix of HCV genotypes, a genotype present at levels as low as 8.

Effects of host and virus related factors on interferon-α+ribavirin and pegylated-interferon+ribavirin treatment outcomes in chronic Hepatitis C patients.

Background: Current standard therapy commonly followed for chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in Pakistan is interferon alpha plus ribavirin combination therapy (IFN α/ribavirin) and pegylated interferon plus ribavirin (PegIFN/ribavirin). PegIFN/ribavirin has increased rate of sustained virological response than standard IFN α/ribavirin therapy. Objective of current study was to analyze rate of early and delayed response to antiviral treatment as well as rate of relapse response in patients following standard treatment IFN α/ribavirin and in patients following pegylated interferon treatment.

Positional effect of phosphorylation sites 266 and 267 in the cytoplasmic domain of the E2 protein of hepatitis C virus 3a genotype: interferon resistance analysis via sequence alignment.

Background: Interferon is well thought-out as the key defence against all infections including HCV. The only treatment for HCV infection is pegylated interferon alpha (IFN-α) but unluckily more than half of the infected individuals do not act in response to the cure and become chronic HCV carriers. The mechanism how HCV induce interferon resistance is still elusive.

Hepatitis B virus in Pakistan: a systematic review of prevalence, risk factors, awareness status and genotypes.

In Pakistan, there are estimated 7-9 million carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) with a carrier rate of 3-5%. This article reviews the available literature about the prevalence, risk factors, awareness status and genotypes of the HBV in Pakistan by using key words; HBV prevalence, risk factors, awareness status and genotypes in Pakistani population in PubMed, PakMediNet, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Google Scholar. One hundred and six different studies published from 1998 to 2010 were included in this study.

Hepatitis associated aplastic anemia: a review.

Hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (HAAA) is an uncommon but distinct variant of aplastic anemia in which pancytopenia appears two to three months after an acute attack of hepatitis. HAAA occurs most frequently in young male children and is lethal if leave untreated. The etiology of this syndrome is proposed to be attributed to various hepatitis and non hepatitis viruses.

Envelope 2 protein phosphorylation sites S75 & 277 of hepatitis C virus genotype 1a and interferon resistance: a sequence alignment approach.

Background: Hepatitis C is a major health problem affecting more than 200 million individuals in world including Pakistan. Current treatment regimen consisting of interferon alpha and ribavirin does not always succeed to eliminate virus completely from the patient's body.

Results: Interferon induced antiviral protein kinase R (PKR) has a role in the hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment as dsRNA activated PKR has the capacity to phosphorylate the serine and threonine of E2 protein and dimerization viral RNA.

An overview of treatment response rates to various anti-viral drugs in Pakistani hepatitis B virus infected patients.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the leading health problem with up to 350 million affected people worldwide including 4.5 million only in Pakistan. It has mortality rate of 0.