Antiviral and antitumor peptides from insects
Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: Insects can rapidly clear microbial infections by producing a variety of immune-induced molecules including antibacterial and/or antifungal peptides/polypeptides. In this report, we present the isolation, structural characterization, and biological properties of two variants of a group of bioactive, slightly cationic peptides, referred to as alloferons. Two peptides were isolated from the blood of an experimentally infected insect, the blow fly Calliphora vicina (Diptera), with the following amino acid sequences: HGVSGHGQHGVHG (alloferon 1) and GVSGHGQHGVHG (alloferon 2). Although these peptides have no clear homologies with known immune response modifiers, protein database searches established some structural similarities with proteins containing amino acid stretches similar to alloferon. In vitro experiments reveal that the synthetic version of alloferon has stimulatory activities on natural killer lymphocytes, whereas in vivo trials indicate induction of IFN production in mice after treatments with synthetic alloferon. Additional in vivo experiments in mice indicate that alloferon has antiviral and antitumoral capabilities. Taken together, these results suggest that this peptide, which has immunomodulatory properties, may have therapeutic capacities. The fact that insects may produce cytokine-like materials modulating basic mechanisms for human immunity suggests a source of anti-infection and antitumoral biopharmaceuticals.
Authors: Sergey Chernysh, S. I. Kim, G. Bekker, V. A. Pleskach, N. A. Filatova, V. B. Anikin, V. G. Platonov, Philippe Bulet
Institutions: St Petersburg University, Institute of Cytology
Language: English
Subfield: Microbiology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1972504016