Targeting viral hepatitis using natural milk protein and traditional medicinal herbs

Hepatitis is a major health related disease spread worldwide with frequent occurrence of epidemics. It is a zoonotic disease which leads to jaundice, anorexia, malaise and death. Although, vaccines have been developed against hepatitis A and hepatitis B, it is a challenge to generate vaccines against other prevalent forms of hepatitis which are equally harmful and spread worldwide. Natural products that are obtained from living organisms and found freely in nature have proven to be effective against several types of hepatitis due to presence of pharmacologically important bioactive compounds. Since they are natural products they do not cause much harm to body and can be easily applied or consumed. Our main focus is on hepatitis E virus (HEV) which is an opportunistic pathogen and leads to acute jaundice. This virus is mainly present in developing countries with poor sanitation facilities and effects individuals having weak immune response, mainly children, old people, organ transplant patients and pregnant women. HEV infection makes the patient more susceptible to infections from other viruses as well as HIV. In this review, we discussed about the natural protein known as lactoferrin which is isolated from milk colostrum and extracts of some medicinal plants that have proven to be effective against various forms of hepatitis. Such form of natural therapies forms the basis of modern medicine and major pharmaceutical discoveries.