Inhibition of hepatitis B virus selective apoptosis modulation by Chinese patent medicine Liuweiwuling Tablet.

Background: Liuweiwuling Tablet (LWWL) is a Chinese patent medicine approved for the treatment of chronic inflammation caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Previous studies have indicated an anti-HBV effect of LWWL, specifically in terms of antigen inhibition, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear.

Aim: To investigate the potential mechanism of action of LWWL against HBV.

Methods: experiments utilized three HBV-replicating and three non-HBV-replicating cell lines. The experiment involved a hydrodynamic injection-mediated mouse model with HBV replication. Transcriptomics and metabolomics were used to investigate the underlying mechanisms of action of LWWL.

Results: In HepG2.1403F cells, LWWL (0.8 mg/mL) exhibited inhibitory effects on HBV DNA, hepatitis B surface antigen and pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) at rates of 51.36%, 24.74% and 50.74%, respectively. The inhibition rates of LWWL (0.8 mg/mL) on pgRNA/covalently closed circular DNA in HepG2.1403F, HepG2.2.15 and HepG2.A64 cells were 47.78%, 39.51% and 46.74%, respectively. Integration of transcriptomics and metabolomics showed that the anti-HBV effect of LWWL was primarily linked to pathways related to apoptosis (PI3K-AKT, CASP8-CASP3 and P53 pathways). Apoptosis flow analysis revealed that the apoptosis rate in the LWWL-treated group was significantly higher than in the control group (CG) among HBV-replicating cell lines, including HepG2.2.15 (2.92% ± 1.01% 6.68% ± 2.04%, < 0.05), HepG2.A64 (4.89% ± 1.28% 8.52% ± 0.50%, < 0.05) and HepG2.1403F (3.76% ± 1.40% 7.57% ± 1.35%, < 0.05) (CG LWWL-treated group). However, there were no significant differences in apoptosis rates between the non-HBV-replicating HepG2 cells (5.04% ± 0.74% 5.51% ± 1.57%, > 0.05), L02 cells (5.49% ± 0.80% 5.48% ± 1.01%, > 0.05) and LX2 cells (6.29% ± 1.54% 6.29% ± 0.88%, > 0.05). TUNEL staining revealed a significantly higher apoptosis rate in the LWWL-treated group than in the CG in the HBV-replicating mouse model, while no noticeable difference in apoptosis rates between the two groups was observed in the non-HBV-replicating mouse model.

Conclusion: Preliminary results suggest that LWWL exerts a potent inhibitory effect on wild-type and drug-resistant HBV, potentially involving selective regulation of apoptosis. These findings offer novel insights into the anti-HBV activities of LWWL and present a novel mechanism for the development of anti-HBV medications.