Table 1. Mechanism of HCV inhibition by catechins and their derivatives.

Category	Test compound	Propagation and target cells	Genotype	Mode of action	Molecular target of inhibition	Reference
Catechin and derivatives	EGCG	HCVcc (JFH1) and Huh7.5.1	2a	Suppression of both the HCV entry and RNA replication steps	ND	[16]
	EGCG, 7,8-benzoflavone	HCVcc (JFH1) and Huh7.5.1	2a, 1b	Early step (EGCG) and later stage (7,8-benzoflavone)	ND	[17]
	63 Synthetic derivatives	Huh5.2	-	In vitro inhibitory effect of catechin derivatives (linear and branched alkyl-esters, amides of gallic acid and other (mono-, di-, and tri-) hydroxy benzoyl derivatives)	ND	[18]
Mechanistic studies	EGCG	HCVcc, HCVpp and Huh-7.5	1a, 1b, 2a	Inhibition of virion attachment	E1/E2	[22]
	EGCG	HCVcc, HCVpp and Huh-7	1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 4, 5, 6	EGCG possesses antiviral activity and impairs cellular lipid metabolism	E1/E2	[23]
	EGCG, delphinidin	HCVcc, HCVpp and Huh-7	2a	E1, E2 interaction mediated deformation of viral membrane	E1/E2	[24]
	EGCG	HCVcc (JFH1), Huh-7.5	2a	Competition with heparan sulfate for binding of HCV	Heparan sulfate	[25]
Alternative approaches	EGCG	HCVcc (JFH1), Huh-7	2a	Regulation of mir-194 and CD81 expression levels	miR-194, CD81	[33]
	SHXT	HCVcc (JFH1), Huh-7	2a	Modulation of the activation of NF-κB and COX-2	COX-2	[34]
In vitro studies	EGCG	In vitro	-	QDs-RNA oligonucleotide	NS5B	[38]
	EGCG	In silico	-	Binding Interaction of HCV NS3 helicase active pocket	GT3a NS3 helicase	[39]

HCV, hepatitis C virus; EGCG, (−)-epigallocatechin 3-gallate; HCVcc, cell-culture-derived HCV; ND, not determined; HCVpp, HCV pseudoparticles; SHXT, San-Huang-Xie-Xin-Tang; NF-κB, nuclear factor κB; COX-2, cyclooxygenase-2; QD, quantum dots.