A novel peptide with potent and broad-spectrum antiviral activities against multiple respiratory viruses

Abstract

A safe, potent and broad-spectrum antiviral is urgently needed to combat emerging respiratory viruses. In light of the broad antiviral activity of β-defensins, we tested the antiviral activity of 11 peptides derived from mouse β-defensin-4 and found that a short peptide, P9, exhibited potent and broad-spectrum antiviral effects against multiple respiratory viruses in vitro and in vivo , including influenza A virus H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, H7N7, H7N9, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The antiviral activity of P9 was attributed to its high-affinity binding to viral glycoproteins, as well as the abundance of basic amino acids in its composition. After binding viral particles through viral surface glycoproteins, P9 entered into cells together with the viruses via endocytosis and prevented endosomal acidification, which blocked membrane fusion and subsequent viral RNA release. This study has paved the avenue for developing new prophylactic and therapeutic agents with broad-spectrum antiviral activities.

Cited by papers we hold 5

• Antimicrobial Mechanisms and Clinical Application Prospects of Antimicrobial Peptides · 2022
  No notice
• Molecular mechanism of interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and host cells and interventional therapy · 2021
  No notice
• Therapeutic approaches against coronaviruses acute respiratory syndrome · 2021
  Not checked
• dbAMP 2.0: updated resource for antimicrobial peptides with an enhanced scanning method for genomic and proteomic data · 2021
  No notice
• Cryo-EM analysis of the post-fusion structure of the SARS-CoV spike glycoprotein · 2020
  No notice

Reads

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.