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Protein & Peptide Letters

Author(s): Rouhollah Vahabpour, Parya Basimi, Farzin Roohvand, Hassan Asadi, Gholnaz M. Irani, Rezvan Zabihollahi and Azam Bolhassani*

DOI: 10.2174/0929866526666190823145916

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Anti-viral Effects of Superpositively Charged Mutant of Green Fluorescent Protein

Page: [930 - 939] Pages: 10

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

Background: Supercharged GFP proteins were known as effective carriers for delivery of macromolecules into eukaryotic cells as well as fluorescent fusion tags for in vitro and in vivo detection.

Objective: Herein, anti-viral effects of +36 GFP and its anti-tumor effects were studied in vitro and in vivo, respectively.

Methods: We evaluated anti-HIV, anti-HSV, and anti-HCV effects of +36 GFP in vitro using ELISA, and real time PCR as common techniques for their detection, respectively. Moreover, we assessed the role of +36 GFP for eliciting HPV-related anti-tumor effects in mice due to the lack of HPV replication in vitro.

Results: Our data showed that +36 GFP efficiently enter the cells and augment the transfection rate of HPV16E7 antigen, as well. Furthermore, +36 GFP significantly reduced HCV, HIV and HSV replication up to 75%, 49% and 43% in HCV-infected Huh7.5 cells, HIV-infected Hela cells and HSV-infected Vero cells, respectively. On the other hand, mice immunization with +36 GFP complexed with HPV16 E7 antigen (+36GFP + E7) or fused to HPV16 E7 antigen (+36GFP-E7) elicited a higher Th1 cellular immune response with the predominant IgG2a, IgG2b, IFN-γ and Granzyme B levels than those induced by other groups. These regimens protected mice against TC- 1 tumor challenge (~ 67%) compared to E7 protein alone (~ 33%). These data suggested that +36 GFP can act as an anti-viral agent at certain dose due to its high efficiency in cell penetration in vitro and in vivo.

Conclusion: Generally, +36 GFP targets viral replication in vitro as well as helps to suppress the growth of HPV-related tumors in vivo.

Keywords: Supercharge protein, +36 GFP, sexual viruses, anti-viral effect, anti-tumor property, viral replication.

Graphical Abstract

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