Optimization of Furin Inhibitors To Protect against the Activation of Influenza Hemagglutinin H5 and Shiga Toxin
作者:Hugo Gagnon、Sophie Beauchemin、Anna Kwiatkowska、Frédéric Couture、François D’Anjou、Christine Levesque、Frédérik Dufour、Adamy Roberge Desbiens、Rolland Vaillancourt、Sylvain Bernard、Roxane Desjardins、François Malouin、Yves L. Dory、Robert Day
DOI:10.1021/jm400633d
日期:2014.1.9
Proprotein convertases (PCs) are crucial in the processing and entry of viral or bacterial protein precursors and confer increased infectivity of pathogens bearing a PC activation site, which results in increased symptom severity and lethality. Previously, we developed a nanomolar peptide inhibitor of PCs to prevent PC activation of infectious agents. Herein, we describe a peptidomimetic approach that increases the stability of this inhibitor for use in vivo to prevent systemic infections and cellular damage, such as that caused by influenza H5N1 and Shiga toxin. The addition of aza beta(3)-amino acids to both termini of the peptide successfully prevented influenza hemagglutinin 5 fusogenicity and Shiga toxin Vero toxicity in cell-based assays. The results from a cell-based model using stable shRNA-induced proprotein convertase knockdown indicate that only furin is the major proprotein convertase required for HAS cleavage.