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Hadjicharalambous A, Newman H, Lewis N, Rowland C, Bournakas N, Stanway SJ, Dawson M, Skynner MJ, Beswick P. Investigating Penetration and Antimicrobial Activity of Vector-Bicycle Conjugates. ACS Infect Dis 2024. [PMID: 38865197 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Growing antibiotic resistance is rapidly threatening the efficacy of treatments for Gram-negative infections. Bicycle molecules, constrained bicyclic peptides from diverse libraries generated by bacteriophage display that bind with high affinity to a chosen target are a potential new class of antibiotics. The generally impermeable bacterial outer membrane currently limits the access of peptides to bacteria. The conjugation of membrane active peptides offers an avenue for outer membrane penetration. Here, we investigate which physicochemical properties of a specific membrane active peptide (MAP), derived from ixosin-B, could be tweaked to enhance the penetration of conjugates by generating multiple MAP-Bicycle conjugate variants. We demonstrate that charge and hydrophobicity are important factors, which enhance penetration and, therefore, antimicrobial potency. Interestingly, we show that induction of secondary structure, but not a change in amphipathicity, is vital for effective penetration of the Gram-negative outer membrane. These results offer insights into the ways vectors could be designed to deliver Bicycle molecules (and other cargos) through biological membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Hadjicharalambous
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, U.K
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Hector Newman
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K
| | - Nick Lewis
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Catherine Rowland
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Nikolaos Bournakas
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Steven J Stanway
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Michael Dawson
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Michael J Skynner
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
| | - Paul Beswick
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, U.K
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Hadjicharalambous A, Bournakas N, Newman H, Skynner MJ, Beswick P. Antimicrobial and Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Understanding Penetration for the Design of Novel Conjugate Antibiotics. Antibiotics (Basel) 2022; 11:1636. [PMID: 36421280 PMCID: PMC9686638 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics11111636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short oligopeptides that can penetrate the bacterial inner and outer membranes. Together with cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), they are called membrane active peptides; peptides which can translocate across biological membranes. Over the last fifty years, attempts have been made to understand the molecular features that drive the interactions of membranes with membrane active peptides. This review examines the features of a membrane these peptides exploit for translocation, as well as the physicochemical characteristics of membrane active peptides which are important for translocation. Moreover, it presents examples of how these features have been used in recent years to create conjugates consisting of a membrane active peptide, called a "vector", attached to either a current or novel antibiotic, called a "cargo" or "payload". In addition, the review discusses what properties may contribute to an ideal peptide vector able to deliver cargoes across the bacterial outer membrane as the rising issue of antimicrobial resistance demands new strategies to be employed to combat this global public health threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Hadjicharalambous
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, UK
| | - Nikolaos Bournakas
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, UK
| | - Hector Newman
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, UK
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Michael J. Skynner
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, UK
| | - Paul Beswick
- BicycleTx Limited, Portway Building, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, UK
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