Frog mucus turned out to be deadly for the flu

Anna Manshina, N+1

After investigating antimicrobial peptides of Indian frog mucus, immunologists have found a peptide that destroys drug-resistant strains of the influenza virus. This peptide, named urumin after a traditional Indian weapon, may become the basis of an effective antiviral drug in the future.

An article about the study was published in the journal Immunity (Holthausen et al.,An Amphibian Host Defense Peptide Is Virucidal for Human H1 Hemagglutinin-Bearing Influenza Viruses).

Antimicrobial or protective peptides are short amino acid chains with antimicrobial activity. They are found in the hemolymph of insects, neutrophilic leukocytes of humans, as well as in hydra, bacteria, fungi and plants. Antimicrobial peptides destroy the bacterial cell wall and enhance the immune response by attracting antigen-presenting cells. Already now a person uses some of them. For example, the nisin peptide, which is produced by lactic acid bacteria, serves as a food preservative. And thanks to the high selectivity of action and the ability to fight even antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, antimicrobial peptides may become the next line of defense in the fight against bacterial infections. Therefore, now scientists are actively isolating and investigating protective peptides, checking their toxicity to mammals and antibacterial properties.

The authors of the new study suggested that some protective peptides can fight not only bacteria, but also viruses. To test their hypothesis, they tested the effect of peptides isolated from the mucus of the frog Hydrophylax bahuvistara on the influenza virus.

Collage from the press release of Emory University Frog slime kills flu virus – VM

One of the thirty-two peptides tested showed antiviral activity and at the same time proved to be non-toxic to humans.

This peptide, which scientists have named urumin, attaches to the hemagglutinin of the influenza virus, a protein that allows the virus to enter the host cell. By binding to hemagglutinin, urumin destabilizes the protein envelope of the virus and causes its death. The peptide was active only against one subtype of hemagglutinin, H1, which was found in the Spanish flu and swine flu strains.

The antiviral properties of urumin were tested in vitro on several dozen strains containing H1, and in all cases it destroyed the virus. The peptide also protected experimental mice from deadly infection.

Thus, scientists have found the first protective peptide that fights the flu virus. Potentially, urumin can be used to create a new generation of antiviral drugs, but this will not happen soon.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  19.04.2017