Antifungal Activity of 14-Helical β-Peptides against Planktonic Cells and Biofilms of Candida Species
作者:Namrata Raman、Myung-Ryul Lee、David Lynn、Sean Palecek
DOI:10.3390/ph8030483
日期:——
Candida albicans is the most prevalent cause of fungal infections and treatment is further complicated by the formation of drug resistant biofilms, often on the surfaces of implanted medical devices. In recent years, the incidence of fungal infections by other pathogenic Candida species such as C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis has increased. Amphiphilic, helical β-peptide structural mimetics of natural antimicrobial α-peptides have been shown to exhibit specific planktonic antifungal and anti-biofilm formation activity against C. albicans in vitro. Here, we demonstrate that β-peptides are also active against clinically isolated and drug resistant strains of C. albicans and against other opportunistic Candida spp. Different Candida species were susceptible to β-peptides to varying degrees, with C. tropicalis being the most and C. glabrata being the least susceptible. β-peptide hydrophobicity directly correlated with antifungal activity against all the Candida clinical strains and species tested. While β-peptides were largely ineffective at disrupting existing Candida biofilms, hydrophobic β-peptides were able to prevent the formation of C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis biofilms. The broad-spectrum antifungal activity of β-peptides against planktonic cells and in preventing biofilm formation suggests the promise of this class of molecules as therapeutics.
白色念珠菌是真菌感染最常见的病因,耐药性生物膜的形成(通常在植入式医疗器械表面)使治疗变得更加复杂。近年来,由其他致病性念珠菌(如光滑念珠菌、副丝状念珠菌和热带念珠菌)引起的真菌感染发病率有所上升。天然抗菌剂 α 肽的两亲螺旋 β 肽结构模拟物在体外对白念珠菌表现出特异性浮游抗真菌和抗生物膜形成活性。在这里,我们证明了 β 肽对临床分离的白念珠菌耐药菌株和其他机会性念珠菌属也有活性。不同的念珠菌属对 β 肽有不同程度的易感性,其中热带念珠菌的易感性最高,格拉布氏念珠菌的易感性最低。β肽的疏水性与对所有受试念珠菌临床菌株和菌种的抗真菌活性直接相关。虽然 β 肽对破坏现有的念珠菌生物膜基本无效,但疏水性 β 肽却能阻止白念珠菌、草绿色念珠菌、副丝状念珠菌和热带念珠菌生物膜的形成。β肽对浮游细胞和防止生物膜形成的广谱抗真菌活性表明,这类分子有望成为治疗药物。