Outer membrane vesicles from

Introduction: Anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) are a well-established alternative among antiviral and antibacterial agents, having considerable advantages over traditional antimicrobials in terms of biocompatibility and limited resistance development. However, a general poor bioavailability and short half-life limit their large-scale implementation. In this framework, different strategies are being explored, such as AMPs encapsulation or their functionalization on antigen-presenting platforms. In this work the evaluation of Methods: OMVs were engineered through the recombinant overexpression of an outer membrane chimeric protein, ClyA-AR23, obtained by combining Cytolysin A (ClyA) with the AR-23 antiviral peptide, derived from frog skin and active against herpes simplex viruses. LC-MS/MS was used to screen the presence of the recombinant protein in cells and OMVs. Plaque reduction assay after pre-incubation treatment and qPCR on viral transcript were used to evaluate ClyA-AR23 OMVs antiviral activity of the engineered vesicles. Results: The expression of ClyA-AR23 protein was verified in recombinant Discussion: In this work we provided a first evidence of AMPs functionalization on membrane vesicles of bacterial origin. The systems demonstrated to be active towards HSV-1 and HSV-2 viruses with negligible cytotoxicity on VERO-76 cells.