Title

Retrocyclins and their activity against HIV-1

Authors

Authors

W. T. Penberthy; S. Chari; A. L. Cole;A. M. Cole

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Cell. Mol. Life Sci.

Keywords

Retrocyclin; Defensin; HIV-1; Host defense peptide; Antimicrobial; peptide; Antiviral; Microbicide; ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDE GOMESIN; CELL FUSION INHIBITOR; HERPES-SIMPLEX-VIRUS; THETA-DEFENSINS; SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE; MARKED; INCREASE; DENDRITIC CELLS; ALPHA-DEFENSINS; CYSTINE KNOT; IN-VITRO; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Cell Biology

Abstract

Primate theta-defensins are physically distinguished as the only known fully-cyclic peptides of animal origin. Humans do not produce theta-defensin peptides due to a premature stop codon present in the signal sequence of all six theta-defensin pseudogenes. Instead, since the putative coding regions of human theta-defensin pseudogenes have remained remarkably intact, their corresponding peptides, called "retrocyclins", have been recreated using solid-phase synthetic approaches. Retrocyclins exhibit an exceptional therapeutic index both as inhibitors of HIV-1 entry and as bactericidal agents, which makes retrocyclins promising candidates for further development as topical microbicides to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. This review presents the evolution, antiretroviral mechanism of action, and potential clinical applications of retrocyclins to prevent sexual transmission of HIV-1.

Journal Title

Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

Volume

68

Issue/Number

13

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Document Type

Review

Language

English

First Page

2231

Last Page

2242

WOS Identifier

WOS:000291484800007

ISSN

1420-682X

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