Linear antimicrobial peptides with activity against herpes simplex virus 1 and Aichi virus

Abstract

Viruses are the major cause of disease and mortality worldwide. Nowadays there are treatments based on antivirals or prophylaxis with vaccines. However, the rising number of reports of viral resistance to current antivirals and the emergence of new types of virus has concerned the scientific community. In this scenario, the search for alternative treatments has led scientists to the discovery of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) derived from many different sources. Since some of them have shown antiviral activities, here we challenged 10 synthetic peptides from different animal and plant sources against, herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), and Aichi virus. Among them, the highlight was Pa-MAP from the polar fish Pleuronectes americanus, which caused around 90% of inhibition of the HSV with a selectivity index of 5 and a virucidal mechanism of action. Moreover, LL-37 from human neutrophils showed 96% of inhibition against the Aichi virus, showing a selectivity index of 3.4. The other evaluated peptides did not show significant antiviral activity. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that Pa-MAP seems to be a reliable candidate for a possible alternative drug to treat HSV-1 infections. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 108: 1-6, 2017.

Protein Recovery from Underutilised Marine Bioresources for Product Development with Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Bioactivities

“…Similar bioactivities have also been reported for protein hydrolysates and peptides produced from other species such as D. salina [260] and Chlorella pyrenoidosa [279]. The peptide, Pa-MAP, isolated from the polar fish (Pleuronectes americanus) was recently in the spotlight due to its strong antiviral activity inhibiting 90% of HSV, compared to 97% by LL-37 (another known antiviral peptide) and 99% by antiviral drug acyclovir (ACV) [45].…”

LL-37 disrupts the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus envelope and inhibits infection in oral epithelial cells

“…The ability of LL-37 to directly inhibit a number of viruses has been reviewed previously (Barlow et al, 2014b), with further activities found against Aichi virus A (Vilas Boas et al, 2017), human adenoviruses 8 and 19 (HAdV-8 and HAdV-19) (Gordon et al, 2005; Uchio et al, 2013), hepatitis C virus (HCV) (Matsumura et al, 2016), human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) (Buck et al, 2006), human rhinovirus (HRV) (Findlay et al, 2017; Schögler et al, 2016; Sousa et al, 2017), and varicella zoster virus (VZV) (Crack et al, 2012). While LL-37 has only been measured at 0.5 μg/ml in saliva (Bachrach et al, 2006; Takeuchi et al, 2012) and 10 μg/ml in gingival crevicular fluid 29 , the actual physiological concentration may be much higher at sites closer to the oral epithelial cells themselves due to the diffusion of the peptides once released from cells.…”

Antiviral peptides as promising therapeutic drugs

“…Most recently, in a study carried out by Migliolo et al (2012), the peptide Pa-MAP 1, derived from the polar fish called Pleunorectus americanus, had its structural, physicochemical, and antimicrobial properties extensively studied and showed not only antibacterial and antifungal activity, but also anti-tumoral and finally antiviral activity against HSV-1 (94%) and -2 (97%) [99]. In later assays, it was found that Pa-MAP 1 has a virucidal mechanism of action, which means that this peptide possibly interacts with some viral surface glycoprotein [100].…”

“…The modulation of viral components necessary for replication and infection (such as HIV reverse transcriptase) has also been described [44]. Moreover, LL-37 showed antiviral activity against non-enveloped virus such as adenovirus, Aichi virus, and rhinovirus [100,115,116]. However, it is suggested that this peptide uses a different mechanism to inhibit non-enveloped viruses such as the adenovirus strains.…”