Ammendolia Maria Grazia, Marchetti Magda, Superti Fabiana
Department of Technology and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
Antiviral Res. 2007 Dec;76(3):252-62. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2007.07.005. Epub 2007 Aug 30.
Lactoferrin (Lf) is a multifunctional glycoprotein that plays an important role in immune regulation and defence mechanisms against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Bovine lactoferrin (bLf) has been recognized as a potent inhibitor of human herpetic viruses, such as cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2. BLf has been found to prevent viral infection by binding to heparan sulphate containing proteoglycans that also act as cell receptors for herpetic viruses. In this study we further investigated the inhibiting activity of bLf against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in Green Monkey Kidney (GMK) cells and found that, in addition to the viral adsorption step, bLf also targets the HSV-1 entry process and cell-to-cell viral spread. Our study showed that the inhibition of HSV-1 infectivity by bLf is dependent on its interaction with specific structural viral proteins. Apart from the prevention of early phases of viral infection, cell-to-cell spread inhibition activity of HSV-1 by bLf confirmed that this protein is an outstanding candidate for the treatment of herpetic infections since it would offer the advantage to prevent also viral infections caused by cell-associated virus.
乳铁蛋白(Lf)是一种多功能糖蛋白,在免疫调节以及针对细菌、真菌和病毒的防御机制中发挥着重要作用。牛乳铁蛋白(bLf)已被公认为是人类疱疹病毒(如巨细胞病毒和1型及2型单纯疱疹病毒)的有效抑制剂。研究发现,bLf通过与含硫酸乙酰肝素的蛋白聚糖结合来预防病毒感染,而这些蛋白聚糖也是疱疹病毒的细胞受体。在本研究中,我们进一步研究了bLf对绿猴肾(GMK)细胞中1型单纯疱疹病毒(HSV-1)的抑制活性,发现除了病毒吸附步骤外,bLf还靶向HSV-1的进入过程以及细胞间病毒传播。我们的研究表明,bLf对HSV-1感染性的抑制取决于其与特定结构的病毒蛋白的相互作用。除了预防病毒感染的早期阶段外,bLf对HSV-1细胞间传播的抑制活性证实,这种蛋白是治疗疱疹感染的优秀候选药物,因为它还具有预防细胞相关病毒引起的病毒感染的优势。