Anti-virus derived from Hep C shows promise

A peptide taken from the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been found to kill a wide range of viruses while ignoring host cells, research has shown.

The HCV ?-helical (AH) peptide was potent against cholesterol containing viruses such as West Nile, dengue, HIV and measles.

Atul Parikh, senior study author from the University of California, said: “Although there are many antiviral drugs on the market, a common problem is the virus learns how to evade them, becoming resistant to the drug treatment. There is a growing recognition new classes of antiviral drugs that target multiple viruses are needed.

“As the HCV-derived peptide appears to meet this need, we reason it targets the Achilles' heel of viruses - a lipid coating or membrane envelope less likely to become resistant to drugs targeting them,” he added.

Although the AH peptide is already well known for its antiviral properties , the number of therapies available has been held back by a lack of knowledge on why it selectively attacks viral envelopes but not host cell membranes.

Researchers carried out tests on simplified model lipid membranes varying in size and chemical composition. They found the virus-like models with membranes rich in cholesterol underwent changes in their molecular structure as well as an increase in membrane openings. This was not seen in cholesterol-free vesicles.

Nam-Joon Cho, from Nanyang Technological University, said: “These results are important not only for furthering the membrane-targeting strategy for developing antivirals against HCV using viral peptides, but also for identifying other viruses, whose membrane compositions include comparable concentrations of cholesterol, that can be inhibited by the HCV antiviral.”

However, Cho insisted a lot of work was needed to follow up this research saying, “these simplified model membranes are excellent models to dissect how drugs target lipid components of viral or cell membranes, but we need to remember that they are still models.

"It will be important to extend the cues drawn from these studies to biological systems, namely human cells and live viruses; to validate the biophysical insights before preclinical translation can occur."

The researchers will now continue their research with membranes more closely linked to viruses and cells.

The research was published in the Biophysical Journal.