AsianScientist (Nov. 2, 2018) – Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, have engineered an antiviral peptide that could stop the Zika virus from causing severe infections. They published their findings in the journal Nature Materials.
The Zika virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and infections during pregnancy are linked to birth defects such as microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head and brain. The World Health Organization declared Zika an international emergency in 2016, and the disease remains a large threat globally today.
In this study, researchers led by Associate Professor Cho Nam-Joon at NTU discovered a method to attack the membrane of the Zika virus using an engineered antiviral peptide.
“The peptide differentiates between Zika viral membranes and mammalian cell membranes because the virus particles are much smaller and more curved, while the mammalian cells are larger and flatter. Like how a pin pricks a balloon, the peptide pricks a hole in the viral membrane. Prick enough holes, and the virus will be ruptured,” said Cho.
When administered to Zika-infected mice in the lab, the engineered peptide drug reduced disease symptoms and the number of deaths—10 out of 12 infected mice survived with treatment. Importantly, the peptide was able to cross the nearly impenetrable blood-brain barrier to tackle viral infection in mouse brains and protect against Zika injury, a critical feature since Zika targets the brain and central nervous system.
“This work represents a paradigm-changing breakthrough in the field of antiviral drug design,” commented Professor William C. Wimley, an antimicrobial peptide expert from Tulane University in the US, who was not part of the study.
“It shows how the viral envelope, a novel target in antiviral drug design, can specifically be targeted by a peptide. It also shows that a peptide targeting the viral envelope can effectively inhibit the virus in the body, and even in the brain, an organ that actively excludes many therapeutics. Given the vast potential of peptides as antibacterial and antifungal agents, this may be a game-changing discovery that will be broadly applicable to the design of anti-infective drugs against many classes of pathogens,” he added.
Going forward, the team seeks to conduct trials in larger animals and hopes to eventually initiate human clinical trials once relevant preclinical studies are completed, and regulatory approvals have been obtained.
“There are currently no vaccines for the Zika virus, while available medicines only alleviate symptoms such as fever and pain,” said Cho. “This newly created peptide holds great promise in becoming a future antiviral drug that can act directly on viral infections in the brain.”
The article can be found at: Jackman et al. (2018) Therapeutic Treatment of Zika Virus Infection Using a Brain-penetrating Antiviral Peptide.
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Source: Nanyang Technological University; Photo: Shutterstock.
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