Department of Respiratory Medicine, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Child Infection and Immunity, Chongqing 400014, China.
Sheng Li Xue Bao. 2022 Jun 25;74(3):419-433.
Viral infection is clinically common and some viral diseases, such as the ongoing global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), have high morbidity and mortality. However, most viral infections are currently lacking in specific therapeutic agents and effective prophylactic vaccines, due to inadequate response, increased rate of drug resistance and severe adverse side effects. Therefore, it is urgent to find new specific therapeutic targets for antiviral defense among which "peptide-based therapeutics" is an emerging field. Peptides may be promising antiviral drugs because of their high efficacy and low toxic side effects. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a prospective antiviral peptide. Since its successful isolation in 1970, VIP has been reported to be involved in infections of SARS-CoV-2, human immune deficiency virus (HIV), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Zika virus (ZIKV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Additionally, given that viral attacks sometimes cause severe complications due to overaction of inflammatory and immune responses, the potent anti-inflammatory and immunoregulator properties of VIP facilitate it to be a powerful and promising candidate. This review summarizes the role and mechanisms of VIP in all reported viral infections and suggests its clinical potential as an antiviral therapeutic target.
病毒感染在临床上很常见，一些病毒性疾病，如目前由严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的全球 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行，发病率和死亡率都很高。然而，由于反应不足、耐药率增加和严重的不良反应，目前大多数病毒感染缺乏特异性治疗药物和有效的预防疫苗。因此，迫切需要寻找新的抗病毒防御的特定治疗靶点，其中“基于肽的治疗方法”是一个新兴领域。肽类可能是很有前途的抗病毒药物，因为它们具有高效和低毒副作用的特点。血管活性肠肽（VIP）是一种有前景的抗病毒肽。自 1970 年成功分离以来，已有报道称 VIP 参与了严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2、人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）、水疱性口炎病毒（VSV）、呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）、寨卡病毒（ZIKV）和巨细胞病毒（CMV）的感染。此外，由于病毒攻击有时会因炎症和免疫反应过度而导致严重并发症，VIP 的强大抗炎和免疫调节特性使其成为一种强大而有前途的候选药物。本综述总结了 VIP 在所有报道的病毒感染中的作用和机制，并提出了其作为抗病毒治疗靶点的临床潜力。
