Screening and antiviral analysis of phages that display peptides with an affinity to subunit C of porcine aminopeptidase.

The purified C subunit of the recombinant porcine aminopeptidase N (rpAPN-C) protein was used as an immobilized target to screen potential ligands against rpAPN-C from a 12-mer phage display random peptide library. After five rounds of biopanning, five phage clones showed specific binding affinities to rpAPN-C. In 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays, the phage clone PM1, which contained the HDAISWTHYHPW peptide sequence, had a protective effect against TGEV infection in swine testis cells. Therefore, the HDAISWTHYHPW peptide sequence has a potential use as a small molecular therapeutic agent against TGEV infection.