{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,29]],"date-time":"2026-10-29T00:03:48Z","timestamp":1793232228894,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,17]],"date-time":"2020-01-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1579219200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major worldwide health problem which can cause chronic hepatitis, liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There is still no vaccine to prevent HCV infection. Currently, the clinical treatment of HCV infection mainly relies on the use of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) which are expensive and have side effects. Here, BmKDfsin3, a scorpion defensin from the venom of Mesobuthus martensii Karsch, is found to dose-dependently inhibit HCV infection at noncytotoxic concentrations and affect viral attachment and post-entry in HCV life cycle. Further experimental results show that BmKDfsin3 not only suppresses p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation of HCV-infected Huh7.5.1 cells, but also inhibits p38 activation of Huh7.5.1 cells stimulated by tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1 (TNF-\u03b1), interleukin-1\u03b2 (IL-1\u03b2) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). BmKDfsin3 is also revealed to enter into cells. Using an upstream MyD88 dimerization inhibitor ST2345 or kinase IRAK-1\/4 inhibitor I, the inhibition of p38 activation represses HCV replication in vitro. Taken together, a scorpion defensin BmKDfsin3 inhibits HCV replication, related to regulated p38 MAPK activation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics9010033","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,17]],"date-time":"2020-01-17T07:39:02Z","timestamp":1579246742000},"page":"33","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":32,"title":["Inhibitory Activity of a Scorpion Defensin BmKDfsin3 against Hepatitis C Virus"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Yuting","family":"Cheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fang","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Songryong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Minjun","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luyao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0698-8438","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Moustafa","family":"Sarhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoology Department, Al-Azhar University, Assuit 71524, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3862-5535","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohamed A.","family":"Abdel-Rahman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenxin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6349-4517","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hang Fai","family":"Kwok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macau 999078, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingliang","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhijian","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Virology, Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"},{"name":"Hubei Province Engineering and Technology Research, Center for Fluorinated Pharmaceuticals, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1016\/j.it.2014.07.004","article-title":"Host defense peptides: Front-line immunomodulators","volume":"35","author":"Mansour","year":"2014","journal-title":"Trends Immunol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"369","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-virology-101416-041734","article-title":"Defensins in viral infection and pathogenesis","volume":"4","author":"Holly","year":"2017","journal-title":"Annu. 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