Engineering of janus-like dendrimers with peptides derived from glycoproteins of herpes simplex virus type 1: Toward a versatile and novel antiviral platform

Annarita Falanga, Valentina Del Genio, Elizabeth A. Kaufman, Carla Zannella, Gianluigi Franci, Marcus Weck, Stefania Galdiero

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Novel antiviral nanotherapeutics, which may inactivate the virus and block it from entering host cells, represent an important challenge to face viral global health emergencies around the world. Using a combination of bioorthogonal copper-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar alkyne/azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) and photoinitiated thiol–ene coupling, monofunctional and bifunctional peptidodendrimer conjugates were obtained. The conjugates are biocompatible and demonstrate no toxicity to cells at biologically relevant concentrations. Furthermore, the orthogonal addition of multiple copies of two different antiviral peptides on the surface of a single dendrimer allowed the resulting biocon-jugates to inhibit Herpes simplex virus type 1 at both the early and the late stages of the infection process. The presented work builds on further improving this attractive design to obtain a new class of therapeutics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number6488
JournalInternational journal of molecular sciences
Volume22
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2 2021

Keywords

  • Antiviral compounds
  • Dendrimers
  • Peptides

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • Molecular Biology
  • Spectroscopy
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry

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