Poster Presentation 10th Australian Peptide Conference 2013

Identification of Novel Anti-Viral Peptides Against Dengue Virus Serotype 2 By Using Peptide Phage Display Technique. (#115)

Miaw Fang Chew 1 , Sharifah Syed Hassan 1
  1. Monash University Sunway Campus, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia

Dengue is an important tropical and subtropical viral disease caused by the infection of any one of the 4 dengue virus (DENV) serotypes (DENV 1, 2, 3, and 4). In human, DENV infection causes a spectrum of illness ranging from mild symptoms to life threatening dengue shock syndrome[1]. Treatment for DENV however remains limited to supportive care with emphasis on fluid therapy and management of its complications. No specific anti-viral drug is currently available to treat dengue infection [2]. In the current study, peptide phage display methodology was applied to screen for novel anti-viral peptides against DENV. This technique allows high throughput screening billions (106 – 1011) of components with a fast selection procedure to identify novel lead candidates. In this study, DENV was cultured in Vero cells and purified for peptide screening assay. A random dodecapeptide and loop-constrained random heptapeptide library displayed on filamentous bacteriophage M13 were interacted with the purified DENV. 3 rounds of biopanning procedure were carried out and blue plaques were selected. A total of 18 different gene sequences from blue plaques were obtained and analyzed. Further studies were carried out to test for cytotoxicity and antiviral properties of the 18 different peptide conjugated phages by using WST-1 assay and plaque reduction assay, respectively. Phage that showed highest inhibitory property was subsequently synthesized. Synthesized peptide (SP) was tested for cytotoxicity (WST-1 assay) and antiviral properties (plaque reduction assay and real-time pcr). No significant cytotoxicity was observed up to 1mM while 78% viral inhibition was achieved at 50µM. It is hoped that continuation and further optimization of current study would reveal potent peptides with anti-viral property for the development of new drugs for the control of DENV.

  1. Halstead, S.B., Dengue. The Lancet, 2007. 370(9599): p. 1644-1652.
  2. Sayce, A.C., J.L. Miller, and N. Zitzmann, Targeting a host process as an antiviral approach against dengue virus. Trends Microbiol, 2010. 18(7): p. 323-30.