Giving a Hand: Synthetic Peptides Boost the Antifungal Activity of Itraconazole Against

Overview

Journal Antibiotics (Basel)

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2023 Feb 25

PMID 36830167

Authors

Tawanny K B Aguiar

Ricardo M Feitosa

Nilton A S Neto

Ellen A Malveira

Francisco I R Gomes

Ana C M Costa

Cleverson D T Freitas

Felipe P Mesquita

Pedro F N Souza

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

is a multidrug-resistant pathogen responsible for infections in immunocompromised patients. Here, itraconazole (ITR), a commercial antifungal drug with low effectiveness against , was combined with different synthetic antimicrobial peptides (SAMPs), Mo-CBP3-PepII, RcAlb-PepII, RcAlb-PepIII, PepGAT, and PepKAA. The Mo-CBP3-PepII was designed based on the sequence of MoCBP3, purified from seeds. RcAlb-PepII and RcAlb-PepIII were designed using Rc-2S-Alb, purified from seed cakes. The putative sequence of a chitinase from was used to design PepGAT and PepKAA. All SAMPs have a positive liquid charge and a hydrophobic potential ranging from 41-65%. The mechanisms of action responsible for the combined effect were evaluated for the best combinations using fluorescence microscopy (FM). The synthetic peptides enhanced the activity of ITR by 10-fold against . Our results demonstrated that the combinations could induce pore formation in the membrane and the overaccumulation of ROS on cells. Our findings indicate that our peptides successfully potentialize the activity of ITR against . Therefore, synthetic peptides are potential molecules to assist antifungal agents in treating Cryptococcal infections.

Citing Articles

Various Biomimetics, Including Peptides as Antifungals.

Efremenko E, Aslanli A, Stepanov N, Senko O, Maslova O Biomimetics (Basel). 2023; 8(7).

PMID: 37999154 PMC: 10669293. DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics8070513.

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