Antibody-Inspired Peptides Take Aim at Flu's Fusion Machinery
- Applies a hotspot-centric computational design strategy, grafting key antibody-binding side chains onto small L-peptide scaffolds that mimic how neutralizing antibodies engage influenza hemagglutinin.
- Draws design cues from the antigen-binding interfaces of broadly neutralizing antibodies FI6v3 and CR9114, both directed at the hemagglutinin stem.
- Aims to yield peptides that block the hemagglutinin conformational change driving membrane fusion, offering a structure-guided route to antibody-inspired flu therapeutics.
💡 Points
FI6v3 and CR9114 are smart hotspots to steal from, and a compact L-peptide is far more tractable to make and dose than the antibody it's mimicking. But stem-directed HA binders have a rough history against escape mutants — durability of coverage across drift, not just initial fusion-blocking potency, is the question I'd want answered before getting excited about a therapeutic path.
Antibody Hotspot-Centric de Novo Design of Peptide Inhibitors of Influenza A Virus Membrane Fusion ↗