Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Darren Shu Jeng Ting, Imran Mohammed, Rajamani Lakshminarayanan, Roger W. Beuerman, Harminder S. Dua
Summary: Vision is considered the most important sense in humans, and the ocular surface plays a crucial role in defending the eye against environmental stress and pathogens. Host defense peptides (HDPs) are innate immune molecules that have antimicrobial and other biological functions. This review provides an updated overview of HDPs at the ocular surface, their involvement in ocular diseases/conditions, current developments in HDP-based treatments for ocular diseases and infections, and the future potential of HDP-based clinical pharmacotherapy for ocular diseases.
FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Darren Shu Jeng Ting, Jianguo Li, Chandra S. Verma, Eunice T. L. Goh, Mario Nubile, Leonardo Mastropasqua, Dalia G. Said, Roger W. Beuerman, Rajamani Lakshminarayanan, Imran Mohammed, Harminder S. Dua
Summary: CaD23 is a novel synthetic HDP with strong antimicrobial efficacy, especially in combination with antibiotics. Its rapid antimicrobial action is mainly attributed to its membrane-permeabilising mechanism, and MD simulations are useful for elucidating its mechanism of action and guiding design optimization.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Angus Watson, Jacinta Agius, Danielle Ackerly, Travis Beddoe, Karla Helbig
Summary: Molluscs have limited understanding of their immune systems due to lack of access to draft genomes and divergence from model organisms. They rely on innate immunity and have limited knowledge of their antiviral capabilities. Only a few major effector molecules have shown antiviral activity. Further research on these molecules may enhance molluscs' antiviral defense and result in novel antimicrobial treatments for a broad range of animal species.
Article
Microbiology
Pengxiang Li, Yifang Cui, Fangfang Guo, Jiahui Guo, Xiaoya Cao, Jun Lin, Baoan Ding, Fuzhou Xu
Summary: This study aimed to characterize the chicken host defense peptides (HDPs) responses to Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) infection. In vitro experiments showed that C. jejuni infection suppressed the expression of certain HDPs but increased the expression of others. In vivo experiments in chickens demonstrated that C. jejuni infection initially up-regulated the expression of HDPs, but this expression decreased over time. The findings suggest that C. jejuni evades the chicken immune system by suppressing the expression of chicken HDPs.
VETERINARY MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
A. Young J. Park, Dat Q. Tran, Justin B. Schaal, Mengxi Wang, Michael E. Selsted, Paul M. Beringer
Summary: This study characterized the preclinical pharmacokinetics and safety of intravenous RTD-1. The results showed extensive tissue distribution and excellent safety profile for RTD-1, supporting its clinical investigation for the treatment of COVID-19 or other pulmonary inflammatory diseases.
ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AND CHEMOTHERAPY
(2022)
Review
Infectious Diseases
Jiahui Wu, Xia Zhou, Qiaoqiao Chen, Zhiqiang Chen, Jinyu Zhang, Lele Yang, Yuxuan Sun, Guohui Wang, Jianfeng Dai, Tingting Feng
Summary: This review provides an overview of tick defensins, including their structural classification and antimicrobial function. Tick defensins exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities against various pathogens and are considered novel candidates or targets for controlling infectious diseases.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF POVERTY
(2022)
Article
Entomology
German Alberto Tellez Ramirez, Juan Felipe Osorio-Mendez, Diana Carolina Henao Arias, Lily Johanna S. Toro, Juliana Franco Castrillon, Maribel Rojas-Montoya, Jhon Carlos Castano Osorio
Summary: The study identified 155 novel HDP sequences from nine transcriptomes of seven species of Coleoptera, enriching the diversity of antimicrobial peptides within this insect family. These sequences were identified based on their similarity to known HDP insect families, including defensins, cecropins, attancins, and coleoptericins.
JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Jianhong Ouyang, Yiyun Zhu, Weijing Hao, Xia Wang, Huaixin Yang, Xinyi Deng, Tingting Feng, Yong Huang, Haining Yu, Yipeng Wang
Summary: In this study, three host defense peptides (HDPs) exhibited potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against aquatic pathogenic bacteria and effectively modulated anti-infective immune responses in largemouth bass. They also showed potential in combating biofilm-related infections and significantly enhancing the survival rate of bacteria-challenged largemouth bass while decreasing bacterial resistance compared to conventional antibiotics. These results suggest the promising use of these HDPs as novel anti-infective agents in largemouth bass culture.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wentao Lyu, Dehui Mi, Paige N. Vinson, Yingping Xiao, Guolong Zhang
Summary: The study aimed to identify small-molecule compounds that can induce the synthesis of endogenous HDPs as novel antimicrobial agents. Through high-throughput screening, 110 compounds were identified, among which mocetinostat showed strong ability to enhance HDP gene expression and the antibacterial activity of chicken macrophages.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Stephan Neumann, Stephan Siegert, Anneke Fischer
Summary: This study investigated the correlation between defensin concentration and clinical expression and course of mastitis in cows. The results showed that cows with acute clinical mastitis had the highest defensin concentration, while cows with subclinical mastitis and healthy cows had lower concentrations.
FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Parasitology
Kyungjae Andrew Yoon, Do Eun Lee, Si Hyeock Lee, Ju Hyeon Kim
Summary: The body and head lice of humans are conspecific, but only the body louse functions as a vector to transmit bacterial pathogens such as Bartonella quintana. Differences in the molecular and functional properties of the two louse subspecies may contribute to the differential vector competence between them.
PARASITES & VECTORS
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Albert Bolatchiev, Vladimir Baturin, Elizaveta Bolatchieva
Summary: Antibiotic resistance is a global threat, and new treatment strategies are needed. This study investigated the effect of seven small molecules on the serum levels of natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in rats. Two of the molecules significantly increased the AMP levels and reduced mortality in a mouse model of sepsis caused by a carbapenem-resistant bacterium. These small molecules show promise as potent AMP inducers.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Yuxuan Pang, Lantian Yao, Jhih-Hua Jhong, Zhuo Wang, Tzong-Yi Lee
Summary: Through the AVPIden model, multiple descriptors are utilized to accurately demonstrate peptide properties and explainable machine learning strategies based on Shapley value are adopted to show how the descriptors impact antiviral activities. The evaluation performance of the model indicates its ability to predict antivirus activities and their potential functions against six virus families (Coronaviridae, Retroviridae, Herpesviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Flaviviridae) and eight kinds of virus (FIV, HCV, HIV, HPIV3, HSV1, INFVA, RSV, SARS-CoV). AVPIden provides an option for strengthening the development of AVPs with a computer-aided method, and it has been deployed at http://awi.cuhk.edu.cn/AVPIden/.
BRIEFINGS IN BIOINFORMATICS
(2021)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Ramon Roca-Pinilla, Leszek Lisowski, Anna Aris, Elena Garcia-Fruitos
Summary: Host defense peptides (HDPs) are small proteins with potent antibacterial and immunomodulatory activities, suitable for clinical applications. Traditional methods of producing antimicrobial peptides are expensive and toxic, making recombinant production of HDPs an alternative. This review explores different strategies for optimizing HDPs, including fine-tuning their activities, bioengineering, and recombinant production in various cell factories.
MICROBIAL CELL FACTORIES
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Jung-Kil Seo, Dong-Gyun Kim, Ji-Eun Lee, Kwon-Sam Park, In-Ah Lee, Ki-Young Lee, Young-Ok Kim, Bo-Hye Nam
Summary: Five arginine-rich analogs were designed based on American oyster defensin (AOD), with A3 and A4 showing potent antimicrobial activity against various organisms without cell toxicity. These analogs possibly interact with DNA or DNA amplification reactions instead of directly acting on bacterial membranes, suggesting potential for novel antimicrobial agents.