Design and selection of peptides to block the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain by molecular docking

• Kendra Ramirez-Acosta,
• Ivan A. Rosales-Fuerte,
• J. Eduardo Perez-Sanchez,
• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Josue Juarez and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 699–711, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.62

• viruses. Keywords: angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2); antiviral peptides; hydrogen bonds; molecular docking; SARS-CoV-2 RBD; Introduction The current pandemic due to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by the novel virus SARS-CoV-2, has over 533 million of confirmed cases and over 6.3 million

Enhanced inhibition of influenza virus infection by peptide–noble-metal nanoparticle conjugates

• Zaid K. Alghrair,
• David G. Fernig and
• Bahram Ebrahimi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1038–1047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.104

• demonstrate that conjugation of FluPep to gold and silver nanoparticles enhances its antiviral potency; the antimicrobial activity of silver ions may enable the design of even more potent antimicrobial inhibitors, capable of targeting both influenza and bacterial co-infections. Keywords: antiviral peptides

• therapeutic use of other antiviral peptides has been demonstrated in HIV [8][9], hepatitis C [10], herpes simplex [11][12], influenza virus [13][14][15]. The infectivity of influenza A viruses, including the H1N1 subtype, is strongly inhibited by a peptide called FluPep [15]. FluPep was originally identified

• biological activity of the peptide, for example, due to multivalent functionalisation of the nanoparticles. In addition, silver possesses innate antimicrobial activities [25]. Thus, noble-metal nanoparticles are potentially useful as both functional probes for antiviral peptides and as therapeutic delivery