Human Antimicrobial Peptides as Therapeutics for Viral Infections
Open Access
- 1 August 2019
- Vol. 11 (8), 704
- https://doi.org/10.3390/v11080704
Abstract
Successful in vivo infection following pathogen entry requires the evasion and subversion of multiple immunological barriers. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are one of the first immune pathways upregulated during infection by multiple pathogens, in multiple organs in vivo. In humans, there are many classes of AMPs exhibiting broad antimicrobial activities, with defensins and the human cathelicidin LL-37 being the best studied examples. Whereas historically the efficacy and therapeutic potential of AMPs against bacterial infection has been the primary focus of research, recent studies have begun to elucidate the antiviral properties of AMPs as well as their role in regulation of inflammation and chemoattraction. AMPs as therapeutic tools seem especially promising against emerging infectious viral pathogens for which no approved vaccines or treatments are currently available, such as dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV). In this review, we summarize recent studies elucidating the efficacy and diverse mechanisms of action of various classes of AMPs against multiple viral pathogens, as well as the potential use of human AMPs in novel antiviral therapeutic strategies.Keywords
This publication has 166 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Human Cathelicidin LL-37 Has Antiviral Activity against Respiratory Syncytial VirusPLOS ONE, 2013
- Effectiveness of human, camel, bovine and sheep lactoferrin on the hepatitis C virus cellular infectivity: comparison studyVirology Journal, 2013
- The novel antimicrobial peptide PXL150 in the local treatment of skin and soft tissue infectionsApplied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2012
- Direct Evidence from Single-Cell Analysis that Human α-Defensins Block Adenovirus Uncoating To Neutralize InfectionJournal of Virology, 2010
- Human β‐defensin 3 has immunosuppressive activity in vitro and in vivoEuropean Journal of Immunology, 2010
- Trappin‐2/Elafin: a novel innate anti‐human immunodeficiency virus‐1 molecule of the human female reproductive tractImmunology, 2010
- Differential Processing of α- and β-Defensin Precursors by Matrix Metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7)Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2009
- Elafin, an Elastase-specific Inhibitor, Is Cleaved by Its Cognate Enzyme Neutrophil Elastase in Sputum from Individuals with Cystic FibrosisOnline Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2008
- Role of Human β-Defensin-2 during Tumor Necrosis Factor-α/NF-κB-mediated Innate Antiviral Response against Human Respiratory Syncytial VirusOnline Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2008
- Adenoviruses Use Lactoferrin as a Bridge for CAR-Independent Binding to and Infection of Epithelial CellsJournal of Virology, 2007