New progress in antiviral peptides of Japanese encephalitis virus

The research team led by Xiao Gengfu, researcher of Wuhan Institute of viruses, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wang Wei, associate researcher, has made new progress in antiviral peptides of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), and found a 12 peptide that can effectively inhibit JEV infection The results were recently published in the antiviral research journal The first author of this paper is Zu Xiangyang, a doctoral student JEV is the pathogen of Japanese encephalitis, mainly distributed in China, India and other countries in East Asia and South Asia It is transmitted by mosquito bites Every year, 30000-50000 people are infected and 10000-15000 people die Although the use of vaccines has reduced the incidence rate of Japanese encephalitis, there is no specific drug for JEV infection Blocking the binding between virus and receptor is a new strategy to develop antiviral drugs Although the receptor of JEV has not been determined, the domain III of envelope protein E, e diii, has been recognized as the ligand of virus binding to the receptor Using ediii as the bait protein, the research team obtained a 12 peptide named P3 senrkvpfyshs by panning phage display peptide library, which can effectively inhibit the adsorption of JEV to the cell surface, thus blocking JEV infection IC50 is about 1 μ M ZDOCK was used to simulate the binding model of P3 / ediii, suggesting that P3 was incorporated into the hydrophobic pocket formed by the N-terminal of ediii through hydrophobic action, which was confirmed by site-specific mutation of the key site forming the hydrophobic pocket This study is helpful to understand the binding details between JEV envelope protein and its receptor, provide a leading molecule for the development of new anti JEV drugs, and provide an important reference for the design of broad-spectrum flavivirus entry inhibitors This research was supported by "973" project "structural basis and invasion mechanism of interaction between viral envelope protein and receptor" (No 2010cb530105) (Wuhan Virus Research Institute)