None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Spirulina platensis, a cynobacterium used frequently as a dietary supplement had been found to exhibit many immune-stimulating and antiviral activities. It had been found to activate macrophages, NK cells, T cells, B cells, and to stimulate the production of Interferon gamma and other cytokines. Natural substances isolated from Spirulina platensis had been found to be a potent inhibitor against several enveloped viruses by blocking viral absorption/penetration and some virus replication stages after penetration into cells. We aimed to study whether this dietary supplement possesses any therapeutically feasible activity worthy of further larger controlled clinical evaluation, and is there any place to use it in the management of hepatitis C virus infection.
Interventions
Spirulina oral capsules of 500 mg dry powder extract in a dose of one capsule three times daily for 6 months.
Sponsors
Abbass Helmy Charity
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Chronic HCV genotype 4 diagnosis HCV RNA positive with or without elevated liver enzymes
Exclusion criteria
Pregnancy Active schistosomiasis HIV HBV Critically ill
Outcome results
None listed