TY - JOUR

T1 - A peptide of heparin cofactor II inhibits endotoxin-mediated shock and invasive Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection

AU - Kalle, Martina

AU - Papareddy, Praveen

AU - Kasetty, Gopinath

AU - van der Plas, Mariena J A

AU - Mörgelin, Matthias

AU - Malmsten, Martin

AU - Schmidtchen, Artur

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Sepsis and septic shock remain important medical problems with high mortality rates. Today's treatment is based mainly on using antibiotics to target the bacteria, without addressing the systemic inflammatory response, which is a major contributor to mortality in sepsis. Therefore, novel treatment options are urgently needed to counteract these complex sepsis pathologies. Heparin cofactor II (HCII) has recently been shown to be protective against Gram-negative infections. The antimicrobial effects were mapped to helices A and D of the molecule. Here we show that KYE28, a 28 amino acid long peptide representing helix D of HCII, is antimicrobial against the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as the fungus Candida albicans. Moreover, KYE28 binds to LPS and thereby reduces LPS-induced pro-inflammatory responses by decreasing NF-κB/AP-1 activation in vitro. In mouse models of LPS-induced shock, KYE28 significantly enhanced survival by dampening the pro-inflammatory cytokine response. Finally, in an invasive Pseudomonas infection model, the peptide inhibited bacterial growth and reduced the pro-inflammatory response, which lead to a significant reduction of mortality. In summary, the peptide KYE28, by simultaneously targeting bacteria and LPS-induced pro-inflammatory responses represents a novel therapeutic candidate for invasive infections.

AB - Sepsis and septic shock remain important medical problems with high mortality rates. Today's treatment is based mainly on using antibiotics to target the bacteria, without addressing the systemic inflammatory response, which is a major contributor to mortality in sepsis. Therefore, novel treatment options are urgently needed to counteract these complex sepsis pathologies. Heparin cofactor II (HCII) has recently been shown to be protective against Gram-negative infections. The antimicrobial effects were mapped to helices A and D of the molecule. Here we show that KYE28, a 28 amino acid long peptide representing helix D of HCII, is antimicrobial against the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as the fungus Candida albicans. Moreover, KYE28 binds to LPS and thereby reduces LPS-induced pro-inflammatory responses by decreasing NF-κB/AP-1 activation in vitro. In mouse models of LPS-induced shock, KYE28 significantly enhanced survival by dampening the pro-inflammatory cytokine response. Finally, in an invasive Pseudomonas infection model, the peptide inhibited bacterial growth and reduced the pro-inflammatory response, which lead to a significant reduction of mortality. In summary, the peptide KYE28, by simultaneously targeting bacteria and LPS-induced pro-inflammatory responses represents a novel therapeutic candidate for invasive infections.

KW - Amino Acid Sequence

KW - Animals

KW - Anti-Infective Agents

KW - Bacteria

KW - Candida albicans

KW - Cell Line

KW - Endotoxins

KW - Heparin Cofactor II

KW - Humans

KW - Lipopolysaccharides

KW - Male

KW - Mice

KW - Mice, Inbred C57BL

KW - Molecular Sequence Data

KW - Pseudomonas Infections

KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa

KW - Shock, Septic

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0102577

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0102577

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25047075

VL - 9

SP - e102577

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 7

ER -