Humic acid inhibits HBV-induced autophagosome formation and induces apoptosis in HBV-transfected Hep G2 cells.
This is very interesting in vivo research. From the abstract, the researchers wrote
“Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) utilizes several mechanisms to survive in the host cells and one of the main pathways being autophagosome formation. Humic acid (HA), one of the major components of Mineral pitch, is an Ayurvedic medicinal food, commonly used by the people of the Himalayan regions of Nepal and India for various body ailments. We hypothesized that HA could induce cell death and inhibit HBV-induced autophagy in hepatic cells……These data showed that HA induced apoptosis and inhibited HBV-induced autophagosome formation and proliferation in hepatoma cells.”
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