A broad-spectrum virus- and host-targeting peptide against respiratory viruses including influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2

Hanjun Zhao, Kelvin K. W. To, Kong-Hung Sze, Timothy Tin-Mong Yung, Mingjie Bian, Hoiyan Lam, Man Lung Yeung, Cun Li, Hin Chu and Kwok-Yung Yuen ()
Additional contact information
Hanjun Zhao: The University of Hong Kong
Kelvin K. W. To: The University of Hong Kong
Kong-Hung Sze: The University of Hong Kong
Timothy Tin-Mong Yung: The University of Hong Kong
Mingjie Bian: Anhui Normal University
Hoiyan Lam: The University of Hong Kong
Man Lung Yeung: The University of Hong Kong
Cun Li: The University of Hong Kong
Hin Chu: The University of Hong Kong
Kwok-Yung Yuen: The University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The 2019 novel respiratory virus (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19 with rapid global socioeconomic disruptions and disease burden to healthcare. The COVID-19 and previous emerging virus outbreaks highlight the urgent need for broad-spectrum antivirals. Here, we show that a defensin-like peptide P9R exhibited potent antiviral activity against pH-dependent viruses that require endosomal acidification for virus infection, including the enveloped pandemic A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, avian influenza A(H7N9) virus, coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV), and the non-enveloped rhinovirus. P9R can significantly protect mice from lethal challenge by A(H1N1)pdm09 virus and shows low possibility to cause drug-resistant virus. Mechanistic studies indicate that the antiviral activity of P9R depends on the direct binding to viruses and the inhibition of virus-host endosomal acidification, which provides a proof of concept that virus-binding alkaline peptides can broadly inhibit pH-dependent viruses. These results suggest that the dual-functional virus- and host-targeting P9R can be a promising candidate for combating pH-dependent respiratory viruses.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17986-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17986-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17986-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().