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The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus

Nipah virus (NiV) is a recently emerging zoonotic virus that belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family and the Henipavirus genus. It causes a range of conditions, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis. The high mortality rate of 40 to 90% ranks these viruses amo...

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Autores principales: Marques, Marta C., Lousa, Diana, Silva, Patrícia M., Faustino, André F., Soares, Cláudio M., Santos, Nuno C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8945041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35327503
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10030703
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author Marques, Marta C.
Lousa, Diana
Silva, Patrícia M.
Faustino, André F.
Soares, Cláudio M.
Santos, Nuno C.
author_facet Marques, Marta C.
Lousa, Diana
Silva, Patrícia M.
Faustino, André F.
Soares, Cláudio M.
Santos, Nuno C.
author_sort Marques, Marta C.
collection PubMed
description Nipah virus (NiV) is a recently emerging zoonotic virus that belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family and the Henipavirus genus. It causes a range of conditions, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis. The high mortality rate of 40 to 90% ranks these viruses among the deadliest viruses known to infect humans. Currently, there is no antiviral drug available for Nipah virus disease and treatment is only supportive. Thus, there is an urgent demand for efficient antiviral therapies. NiV F protein, which catalyzes fusion between the viral and host membranes, is a potential target for antiviral drugs, as it is a key protein in the initial stages of infection. Fusion inhibitor peptides derived from the HRC-domain of the F protein are known to bind to their complementary domain in the protein’s transient intermediate state, preventing the formation of a six-helix bundle (6HB) thought to be responsible for driving the fusion of the viral and cell membranes. Here, we evaluated the biophysical and structural properties of four different C-terminal lipid-tagged peptides. Different compositions of the lipid tags were tested to search for properties that might promote efficacy and broad-spectrum activity. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study the interaction of the peptides with biomembrane model systems and human blood cells. In order to understand the structural properties of the peptides, circular dichroism measurements and molecular dynamics simulations were performed. Our results indicate a peptide preference for cholesterol-enriched membranes and a lipid conjugation-driven stabilization of the peptide α-helical secondary structure. This work may contribute for the development of highly effective viral fusion against NiV inhibitors.
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spelling pubmed-89450412022-03-25 The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus Marques, Marta C. Lousa, Diana Silva, Patrícia M. Faustino, André F. Soares, Cláudio M. Santos, Nuno C. Biomedicines Article Nipah virus (NiV) is a recently emerging zoonotic virus that belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family and the Henipavirus genus. It causes a range of conditions, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis. The high mortality rate of 40 to 90% ranks these viruses among the deadliest viruses known to infect humans. Currently, there is no antiviral drug available for Nipah virus disease and treatment is only supportive. Thus, there is an urgent demand for efficient antiviral therapies. NiV F protein, which catalyzes fusion between the viral and host membranes, is a potential target for antiviral drugs, as it is a key protein in the initial stages of infection. Fusion inhibitor peptides derived from the HRC-domain of the F protein are known to bind to their complementary domain in the protein’s transient intermediate state, preventing the formation of a six-helix bundle (6HB) thought to be responsible for driving the fusion of the viral and cell membranes. Here, we evaluated the biophysical and structural properties of four different C-terminal lipid-tagged peptides. Different compositions of the lipid tags were tested to search for properties that might promote efficacy and broad-spectrum activity. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study the interaction of the peptides with biomembrane model systems and human blood cells. In order to understand the structural properties of the peptides, circular dichroism measurements and molecular dynamics simulations were performed. Our results indicate a peptide preference for cholesterol-enriched membranes and a lipid conjugation-driven stabilization of the peptide α-helical secondary structure. This work may contribute for the development of highly effective viral fusion against NiV inhibitors. MDPI 2022-03-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8945041/ /pubmed/35327503 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10030703 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Marques, Marta C.
Lousa, Diana
Silva, Patrícia M.
Faustino, André F.
Soares, Cláudio M.
Santos, Nuno C.
The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus
title The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus
title_full The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus
title_fullStr The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus
title_full_unstemmed The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus
title_short The Importance of Lipid Conjugation on Anti-Fusion Peptides against Nipah Virus
title_sort importance of lipid conjugation on anti-fusion peptides against nipah virus
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8945041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35327503
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10030703
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