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Protein & Peptide Letters

Author(s): Paulo Ricardo da Silva Sanches, João Caldana Elias de Campos Faria, Cíntia Bittar, Hugo Alexandre Siqueira Guberovich Olivieri, Nathalya Cristina de Moraes Roso Mesquita, Gabriela Dias Noske, Andre Schutzer de Godoy, Glaucius Oliva, Paula Rahal and Eduardo Maffud Cilli*

DOI: 10.2174/0109298665308871240703090408

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The GA-Hecate Peptide inhibits the ZIKV Replicative Cycle in Different Steps and can Inhibit the Flavivirus NS2B-NS3 Protease after Cell Infection

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

Background: Peptide drugs are advantageous because they are subject to rational design and exhibit highly diverse structures and broad biological activities. The NS2B-NS3 protein is a particularly promising flavivirus therapeutic target, with extensive research on the development of inhibitors as therapeutic candidates, and was used as a model in this work to determine the mechanism by which GA-Hecate inhibits ZIKV replication.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the potential of GA-Hecate, a new antiviral developed by our group, against the Brazilian Zika virus and to evaluate the mechanism of action of this compound on the flavivirus NS2B-NS3 protein.

Methods: Solid-phase peptide Synthesis, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, and Mass Spectrometry were used to obtain, purify, and characterize the synthesized compound. Real-time and enzymatic assays were used to determine the antiviral potential of GA-Hecate against ZIKV.

Results: The RT-qPCR results showed that GA-Hecate decreased the number of ZIKV RNA copies in the virucidal, pre-treatment, and post-entry assays, with 5- to 6-fold fewer RNA copies at the higher nontoxic concentration in Vero cells (HNTC: 10 μM) than in the control cells. Enzymatic and kinetic assays indicated that GA-Hecate acts as a competitive ZIKV NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitor with an IC50 of 32 nM and has activity against the yellow fever virus protease.

Conclusion: The results highlight the antiviral potential of the GA-Hecate bioconjugate and open the door for the development of new antivirals.

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