Jones Jeremy C, Turpin Elizabeth A, Bultmann Hermann, Brandt Curtis R, Schultz-Cherry Stacey
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, 1300 University Avenue, Room 417 SMI, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
J Virol. 2006 Dec;80(24):11960-7. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01678-06. Epub 2006 Sep 27.
Influenza A viruses continue to cause widespread morbidity and mortality. There is an added concern that the highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza A viruses, currently found throughout many parts of the world, represent a serious public health threat and may result in a pandemic. Intervention strategies to halt an influenza epidemic or pandemic are a high priority, with an emphasis on vaccines and antiviral drugs. In these studies, we demonstrate that a 20-amino-acid peptide (EB, for entry blocker) derived from the signal sequence of fibroblast growth factor 4 exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity against influenza viruses including the H5N1 subtype in vitro. The EB peptide was protective in vivo, even when administered postinfection. Mechanistically, the EB peptide inhibits the attachment to the cellular receptor, preventing infection. Further studies demonstrated that the EB peptide specifically binds to the viral hemagglutinin protein. This novel peptide has potential value as a reagent to study virus attachment and as a future therapeutic.
甲型流感病毒继续导致广泛的发病和死亡。人们还额外担心，目前在世界许多地区发现的高致病性H5N1甲型流感病毒构成严重的公共卫生威胁，并可能导致大流行。阻止流感流行或大流行的干预策略是当务之急，重点是疫苗和抗病毒药物。在这些研究中，我们证明，一种源自成纤维细胞生长因子4信号序列的20个氨基酸的肽（EB，即进入阻断剂）在体外对包括H5N1亚型在内的流感病毒表现出广谱抗病毒活性。即使在感染后给药，EB肽在体内也具有保护作用。从机制上讲，EB肽抑制与细胞受体的结合，从而防止感染。进一步的研究表明，EB肽特异性结合病毒血凝素蛋白。这种新型肽作为研究病毒附着的试剂和未来的治疗药物具有潜在价值。
