A Modified Fibronectin Type III Domain-Conjugated, Long-Acting Pan-Coronavirus Fusion Inhibitor with Extended Half-Life.
Viruses
; 14(4)2022 03 22.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35458385
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants has posed serious threats to global public health, thus calling for the development of potent and broad-spectrum antivirals. We previously designed and developed a peptide-based pan-coronavirus (CoV) fusion inhibitor, EK1, which is effective against all human CoVs (HCoV) tested by targeting the HCoV S protein HR1 domain. However, its relatively short half-life may limit its clinical use. Therefore, we designed, constructed, and expressed a recombinant protein, FL-EK1, which consists of a modified fibronectin type III domain (FN3) with albumin-binding capacity, a flexible linker, and EK1. As with EK1, we found that FL-EK1 could also effectively inhibit infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, as well as HCoV-OC43. Furthermore, it protected mice from infection by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and HCoV-OC43. Importantly, the half-life of FL-EK1 (30 h) is about 15.7-fold longer than that of EK1 (1.8 h). These results suggest that FL-EK1 is a promising candidate for the development of a pan-CoV fusion inhibitor-based long-acting antiviral drug for preventing and treating infection by current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as other HCoVs.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Inibidores de Proteínas Virais de Fusão
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
Tratamento Farmacológico da COVID-19
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article