Algal Lectin Griffithsin Inhibits Ebola Virus Infection.

Abstract

Algal lectin Griffithsin (GRFT) is a well-known mannose-binding protein which has broad-spectrum antiviral activity against several important infectious viruses including HIV, HCV, and SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, GRFT has been brought great attention to antiviral therapeutic development. In this report, we have tested GRFT's activity against the lethal Ebola virusand. Our data have shown that the ICvalue is about 42 nM for inhibiting Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV) infectionThe preliminarymice model using mouse-adapted EBOV has also shown a certain efficacy for delayed mortality compared to the control animals. A GRFT pull-down experiment using viral particles demonstrates that GRFT can bind to N-glycans of EBOV. Thus, it can be concluded that GRFT, through binding to viral glycans, may block Ebola virus infection and has potential for the treatment of Ebola virus disease (EVD).