Induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) inhibits hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. Of the products of the reaction catalyzed by HO-1, iron has been shown to inhibit HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase, but little is known about the antiviral activity of biliverdin (BV).
Herein, we report that BV inhibits viral replication and viral protein expression in a dose-dependent manner in replicons and cells harboring the infectious J6/JFH construct.