title: Antiviral and antitumor peptides from insects.
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.affiliation: Laboratory of Entomology, Biological Institute of St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Oranienbaumskoye Shosse 2, St. Petersburg 198904, Russia. chernish@comset.net
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chernysh
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bekker
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Pleskach
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Filatova
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Anikin
authors.forename: V G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Platonov
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bulet
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004175:Diptera / Q000378:metabolism*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007372:Interferons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013997:Time Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D019476:Insect Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D007372:Interferons