*4.9. Human Papillomavirus*

Human and bovine LF and Lfcin have been demonstrated to inhibit the internalization of HPV-16 particles, as visualized using an HPV virus-like particle (VLP) that fluoresces after cellular internalization [111]. This inhibition occurred in a dose-dependent manner on HaCaT cells [111]. Bovine LF-mediated inhibition was more potent than human LF. However, both LFs inhibited HPV-5 and HPV-16 [112]. Different synthetic derivatives or variants of human and bovine Lfcin demonstrated selective inhibition of HPV, such that a human variant of Lfcin with amino acids 1 to 49 displayed antiviral activity as well as inhibition of attachment of both HPV strains while the bovine variant (17–42) only inhibited HPV-5 infection [112]. These results suggest that different domains of Lfcin contain selective and specific antiviral properties which can be engineered to target specific infections and viral strains.
