Medicinal Plants Against Hepatitis B Infections: Ethnopharmacology, Chemistry, and Clinical and Preclinical Studies

A small DNA hepatitis B virus (HBV), belonging to the Hepadnaviridae family, affects about 0.3 billion population globally and is a major factor of liver damage and cancer. It replicates through an RNA intermediate and can integrate into the host genome. The specific characteristics of the HBV replication cycle give a particular capacity for the virus to survive in infected cells. HBV infection causes a variety of liver disorders, including acute and chronic hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis, and, in the worst-case scenario, death. Acute HBV infection might be asymptomatic or cause symptomatic acute hepatitis, whereas chronic hepatitis B is often characterized through the persistence of detectable hepatitis B surface antigen for more than six months in the blood. The subsistence of hepatitis B envelope antigen is associated with increased viral replication, resulting in greater infection. Hepatitis B vaccine is now available, and treatment options include pegylated interferon-α, telbivudine, lamivudine, adefovir, and entecavir. After long-term usage, this therapy is effective partially and has considerable dose-depending resistance and negative impacts. As a result, there is a need to discover novel, safer, and more effective anti-hepatitis B medicines derived from therapeutic plants. This chapter depicts an overview of therapeutic herbs, their families, phytoconstituents, and extract solutions utilized to cure hepatitis B via various mechanisms. Because a singular plant comprises an indispensable quantity of phytoconstituents that really can help in manufacturing medicinal category proteins with a broad range of anti-viral action, pharma industries are attempting to explore suitable alternatives and natural inhibitors with targeting various phases of the HBV lifecycle. Unfortunately, knowledge of plant anti-viral action is still insufficient.