The RSV F p27 peptide: current knowledge, important questions

Wanderson Rezende; Hadley E Neal; Rebecca E Dutch; Pedro A Piedra

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1219846

The RSV F p27 peptide: current knowledge, important questions

Front Microbiol. 2023 Jun 21:14:1219846. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1219846. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Wanderson Rezende^{1

2}, Hadley E Neal³, Rebecca E Dutch³, Pedro A Piedra^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
² Department of Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
³ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.

Abstract

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains a leading cause of hospitalizations and death for young children and adults over 65. The worldwide impact of RSV has prioritized the search for an RSV vaccine, with most targeting the critical fusion (F) protein. However, questions remain about the mechanism of RSV entry and RSV F triggering and fusion promotion. This review highlights these questions, specifically those surrounding a cleaved 27 amino acids long peptide within F, p27.

Keywords: F protein trimer; cleavage; fusion protein (F); p27; respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Publication types

Review