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Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides: potential therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

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Abstract

The increasing resistance of pathogens to antibiotics causes a huge clinical burden that places great demands on academic researchers and the pharmaceutical industry for resolution. Antimicrobial peptides, part of native host defense, have emerged as novel potential antibiotic alternatives. Among the different classes of antimicrobial peptides, proline-rich antimicrobial peptides, predominantly sourced from insects, have been extensively investigated to study their specific modes of action. In this review, we focus on recent developments in these peptides. They show a variety of modes of actions, including mechanism shift at high concentration, non-lytic mechanisms, as well as possessing different intracellular targets and lipopolysaccharide binding activity. Furthermore, proline-rich antimicrobial peptides display the ability to not only modulate the immune system via cytokine activity or angiogenesis but also possess properties of penetrating cell membranes and crossing the blood brain barrier suggesting a role as potential novel carriers. Ongoing studies of these peptides will likely lead to the development of more potent antimicrobial peptides that may serve as important additions to the armoury of agents against bacterial infection and drug delivery.

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Abbreviations

AMPs:

Antimicrobial peptides

PrAMPs:

Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides

LPS:

Lipopolysaccharide

CPPs:

Cell penetrating peptides

BBB:

Blood brain barrier

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge partial support of the studies undertaken in the authors’ laboratory by the Australian Research Council (DP150103522) to MAH and JDW and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Grant APP1029878 to NMOBS. JDW is an NHMRC (Australia) Principal Research Fellow. Research at the FNI was supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Wenyi Li, Julien Tailhades, M. Akhter Hossain & John D. Wade

  2. School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Wenyi Li, Frances Separovic, M. Akhter Hossain & John D. Wade

  3. Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Neil M. O’Brien-Simpson & Frances Separovic

  4. Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Neil M. O’Brien-Simpson

  5. Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Laszlo Otvos Jr.

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  1. Wenyi Li
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  2. Julien Tailhades
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  3. Neil M. O’Brien-Simpson
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  4. Frances Separovic
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  5. Laszlo Otvos Jr.
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  6. M. Akhter Hossain
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  7. John D. Wade
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Correspondence to John D. Wade.

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Li, W., Tailhades, J., O’Brien-Simpson, N.M. et al. Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides: potential therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Amino Acids 46, 2287–2294 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1820-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1820-1

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