The potency of piper betle leave extract as antiviral drug to dengue virus in vitro

Up to now, there is no specific medicine known to be effective in treating dengue virus (DENV) infection, there is only supportive treatment geared toward its symptoms. It is known that herbal extracts possess a measure of effectivity against DENV. Piper betle, or sirih, is one of the most common medicinal plant used by Indonesian citizen. Therefore, an in-depth study regarding the effectivity of Piper betle leave extract towards DENV becomes an important topic. Huh 7it-1 cell was cultured on plat 96 and 48 well plate to examine toxicity and effectivity, respectively. Then, the cells were infected with DENV which has been given Piper betle leave extract at various concentration such as 160ug/mL, 80ug/mL, 40ug/mL, 20ug/mL, 10ug/mL, and 5ug/mL. After incubation for 48 hours, supernatant and cell were harvested to conduct focus and MTT assay respectively. From this study we found that Piper betle has an IC50, CC50 and Selectivity Index of 17.662 µg/ml, 486.404µg/ml, and 24.3 respectively. It is indicating that Piper betle has a strong potential in becoming an alternative antiviral agent for dengue virus. Further experimental investigations are needed to determine cytotoxic and effectivity of Piper betle leave extract as an antiviral to DENV in vivo.