title: Antiviral activity of ovotransferrin derived peptides.
abstract: Ovotransferrin and lactoferrin are iron-binding proteins with antiviral and antibacterial activities related to natural immunity, showing marked sequence and structural homologies. The antiviral activity of two hen ovotransferrin fragments DQKDEYELL (hOtrf(219-227)) and KDLLFK (hOtrf(269-301) and hOtrf(633-638)) towards Marek's disease virus infection of chicken embryo fibroblasts is reported here. These fragments have sequence homology with two bovine lactoferrin fragments with antiviral activity towards herpes simplex virus, suggesting that these fragments could have a role for the exploitation of the antiviral activity of the intact proteins towards herpes viruses. NMR analysis showed that these peptides, chemically synthetized, did not possess any favourite conformation in solution, indicating that both the aminoacid sequence and the conformation they display in the intact protein are essential for the antiviral activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Roma TRE, I-00154 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giansanti
authors.forename: M Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Massucci
authors.forename: M Federica
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Giardi
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nozza
authors.forename: Emy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pulsinelli
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nicolini
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Botti
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Antonini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D003207:Conalbumin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D025922:Mardivirus / Q000187:drug effects; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D003207:Conalbumin; D007781:Lactoferrin