الفهرس 
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Abstract
Egypt has a very high prevalence of 22% of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) (WHO 2011), and a high morbidity and mortality from chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The strong homogeneity of HCV subtypes found in Egypt (mostly type 4a) suggests an epidemic spread of HCV. Since a history of injection treatment has been implicated as a risk factor for HCV, a prime candidate to explain the high prevalence of HCV in Egypt is the past practice of parenteral therapy for schistosomiasis (Frank et al., 2000). The large reservoir of chronic HCV infection established in the course of these campaigns remains likely to be responsible for the high prevalence of HCV morbidity and may be largely responsible for the continued endemic transmission of HCV in Egypt. No effective post-exposure prophylaxis (immune globulin, antiviral agents) is available for hepatitis C for chronic hepatitis C. Combination therapy results in better treatment responses than mono-therapy. The highest response rates have been achieved with pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin. However, Current therapies for HCV are associated with significant side effects, as well as increased resistance (Janseen et al., 2013). Therefore, there is a clear need for a less toxic and more effective therapy. Due to the evident need for effective antiviral therapy, in recent years a large number of naturally occurring compounds with antiviral and immunomodulatory components have been investigated in the attempt to develop new safe agents able to influence the response of the host to viruses. The outcome of most hepatitis C infections depends on a balance of the kinetics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication and the characteristics of the host immune response (Pockros et al., 2003) in particular improvement the Th-1/Th-2 balance and stimulating interferon production.
The aim of this study is to investigate the phytochemical properties and biological effect of onion (Allium cepa L.) skin extract as Anti-HCV virus and as an immunomodulator in addition to some prospective biological effects through in vitro tests.