Inhibition of Ebola Virus by a Molecularly Engineered Banana Lectin
by Evelyn M. Cov és-Datson, Julie Dyall, Lisa Evans DeWald, Steven R. King, Derek Dube, Maureen Legendre, Elizabeth Nelson, Kelly C. Drews, Robin Gross, Dawn M. Gerhardt, Lisa Torzewski, Elena Postnikova, Janie Y. Liang, Bhupal Ban, Jagathpala Shetty, Lisa E. Hensley, Peter B. Jahrling, Gene G. Olinger Jr., Judith M. White, David M. Markovitz
Ebolaviruses cause an often rapidly fatal syndrome known as Ebola virus disease (EVD), with average case fatality rates of ~50%. There is no licensed vaccine or treatment for EVD, underscoring the urgent need to develop new anti-ebolavirus agents, especially in the face of an ongoing outbreak in t he Democratic Republic of the Congo and the largest ever outbreak in Western Africa in 2013–2016. Lectins have been investigated as potential antiviral agents as they bind glycans present on viral surface glycoproteins, but clinical use of them has been slowed by concerns regarding their mitogenic ity, i.e. ability to cause immune cell proliferation. We previously engineered a banana lectin (BanLec), a carbohydrate-binding protein, such that it retained antiviral activity but lost mitogenicity by mutating a single amino acid, yielding H84T BanLec (H84T). H84T shows activity against viruses co ntaining high-mannoseN-glycans, including influenza A and B, HIV-1 and -2, and hepatitis C virus. Since ebolavirus surface glycoproteins also contain many high-mannoseN-glycans, we assessed whether H84T could inhibit ebolavirus replication. H84T inhibi...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Evelyn M. Cov és-Datson Source Type: research
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