Cell-permeable artificial zinc-finger proteins as potent antiviral drugs for human papillomaviruses.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the important pharmaceutical targets because infection of the high-risk types causes invasive cervical cancer. However, effective antiviral drugs for HPV have not been developed so far. In the present study, we constructed cell-permeable artificial zinc-finger proteins (AZPs) by fusing an AZP previously generated for inhibition of HPV-18 DNA replication with a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) as candidates for new antiviral drugs against HPV. We confirmed that these CPP-AZP fusions reduced the replication rate in transient replication assays when added to the culture medium. In particular, 250 nM CPP-AZP (designated AZP-R9) containing a 9-mer of arginine as the CPP reduced HPV-18 DNA replication to 3% of that of a control, and the 50% effective concentration (EC50) was <31 nM. Furthermore, a cytotoxicity assay revealed that the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of AZP-R9 was >10 microM. Therefore, the selectivity index, defined as IC50/EC50, was >300, which is better than that of the antiviral cidofovir for HPVs. Thus, our results demonstrate that cell-permeable AZPs could serve as potent protein-based antiviral drugs.
Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyotodaigaku-Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.
Takashi
T
Mino
Tomoaki
T
Mori
Yasuhiro
Y
Aoyama
Takashi
T
Sera
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D002460:Cell Line; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000187:drug effects*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects; D016335:Zinc Fingers
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins