Toxins (May 2018)

Antimicrobial and Chemotactic Activity of Scorpion-Derived Peptide, ToAP2, against Mycobacterium massiliensis

  • Lázaro M. Marques-Neto,
  • Monalisa M. Trentini,
  • Rogério C. das Neves,
  • Danilo P. Resende,
  • Victor O. Procopio,
  • Adeliane C. da Costa,
  • André Kipnis,
  • Márcia R. Mortari,
  • Elisabeth F. Schwartz,
  • Ana Paula Junqueira-Kipnis

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins10060219
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 6
p. 219

Abstract

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Mycobacterium massiliense is a rapid growing, multidrug-resistant, non-tuberculous mycobacteria that is responsible for a wide spectrum of skin and soft tissue infections, as well as other organs, such as the lungs. Antimicrobial peptides had been described as broad-spectrum antimicrobial, chemotactic, and immunomodulator molecules. In this study we evaluated an antimicrobial peptide derived from scorpion Tityus obscurus as an anti-mycobacterial agent in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analyses demonstrated that the peptide ToAP2 have a conserved region similar to several membrane proteins, as well as mouse cathelicidin. ToAP2 inhibited the growth of four M. massiliense strains (GO01, GO06, GO08, and CRM0020) at a minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 200 µM. MBC concentration used to treat infected macrophages was able to inhibit 50% of the bacterial growth of all strains. ToAP2 treatment of infected mice with bacilli reduced the bacterial load in the liver, lung, and spleen, similarly to clarithromycin levels (90%). ToAP2 alone recruited monocytes (F4/80low Gr1), neutrophils (F4/80− Gr1), and eosinophils (F4/80+ Gr1+). ToAP2, together with M. massiliense infection, was able to increase F4/80low and reduce the percentage of F4/80high macrophages when compared with infected and untreated mice. ToAP2 has in vitro anti-microbial activity that is improved in vivo due to chemotactic activity.

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