Owing to the increasing number of infections in hospitalised patients caused by resistant strains of fungi, there is a need to develop new therapeutic agents for these infections. Naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides may constitute models for developing such agents. A modified peptide sequence (CFQWKRAM-RKVR; HLopt2) based on amino acid residues 20-31 of the N-terminal end of human lactoferrin (hLF) as well as a double-sized human lactoferricin-like peptide (amino acid residues 16-40; HLBD1) were investigated for their antifungal activities in vitro and in vivo. By in vitro assay, HLopt2 was fungicidal at concentrations of 12.5-25 mu g/mL against Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Candida kefyr and Candida parapsilosis, but not against Candida glabrata. HLopt2 was demonstrated to have andgt;= 16-fold greater killing activity than HLBD1. By inducing some helical formation caused by lactam bridges or by extending the assay time (from 2 h to 20 h), HLBD1 became almost comparable with HLopt2 in its fungicidal activity. Killing of C. albicans yeast cells by HLopt2 was rapid and was accompanied by cytoplasmic and mitochondrial membrane permeabilisation as well as formation of deep pits on the yeast cell surface. In a murine C. albicans skin infection model, atopic treatment with the peptides resulted in significantly reduced yields of Candida from the infected skin areas. The antifungal activities of HLopt2 in vitro and in vivo suggest possible potential as a therapeutic agent against most Candida spp. and C. neoformans. The greatly improved antifungal effect of the lactam-modified HLBD1 indicates the importance of amphipathic helix formation for lethal activity.

There is a need for new microbicidal agents with therapeutic potential due to antibiotic resistance in bacteria and fungi. In this study, the structure-microbicidal activity relationship of amino acid residues 14 to 31 (sequence 14-31) from the N-terminal end, corresponding to the antibacterial alpha-helix of human lactoferrin (LF), was investigated by downsizing, alanine scanning, and substitution of amino acids. Microbicidal analysis (99% killing) was performed by a microplate assay using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans as test organisms. Starting from the N-terminal end, downsizing of peptide sequence 14-31 showed that the peptide sequence 19-31 (KCFQWQRNMRKVR, HL9) was the optimal length for antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, HL9 bound to lipid A/lipopolysaccharide, as shown by neutralizing endotoxic activity in a Limulus assay. Alanine scanning of peptide sequence 20-31 showed that Cys20, Trp23, Arg28, Lys29, or Arg31 was important for expressing full killing activity, particularly against C. albicans. Substituting the neutral hydrophilic amino acids Gln24 and Asn26 for Lys and Ala (HLopt2), respectively, enhanced microbicidal activity significantly against all test organisms compared to the amino acids natural counterpart, also, in comparison with HL9, HLopt2 had more than 10-fold-stronger fungicidal activity. Furthermore, HLopt2 was less affected by metallic salts than HL9. The microbicidal activity of HLopt2 was slightly reduced only at pH 7.0, as tested in the pH range of 4.5 to 7.5. The results showed that the microbicidal activity of synthetic peptide sequences, based on the antimicrobial alpha-helix region of LF, can be significantly enhanced by optimizing the length and substitution of neutral amino acids at specific positions, thus suggesting a sequence lead with therapeutic potential.

The ultimate goals of de novo protein design are the construction of novel tertiary structures and functions. Here is presented the design and synthesis of a uniquely branched three-helix bundle that folds into a well-folded dimeric protein. The branching of this protein was performed by the method of native chemical ligation, which provides a chemoselective and stable amide bond between the unprotected fragments. This ligation strategy was possible by the presented facile preparation of a peptide (43 amino acids) with a specific side chain thioester, which is synthesized by general Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis. From the presented structural analysis, it is seen that the folded protein is present as a stable and highly helical dimer, thus forming a six-helix bundle. This unique tertiary structure, composed of a dimer of three individual a-helices branched together, offers different possibilities for protein engineering, such as metal and cofactor binding sites, as well as for the construction of novel functions. © 2006 American Chemical Society.

Several receptors for human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) have been prepared by covalently attaching benzenesulfonamide carboxylates via aliphatic aminocarboxylic acid spacers of variable length to the side chain of a lysine residue in a designed 42 residue helix-loop-helix motif. The sulfonamide group binds to the active site zinc ion of human carbonic anhydrase II located in a 15 Å deep cleft. The dissociation constants of the receptor-HCAII complexes were found to be in the range from low micromolar to better than 20 nM, with the lowest affinities found for spacers with less than five methylene groups and the highest affinity found for the spacer with seven methylene groups. The results suggest that the binding is a cooperative event in which both the sulfonamide residue and the helix-loop-helix motif contribute to the overall affinity.

A molecular platform for protein detection and quantification is reported in which recognition has been integrated with direct monitoring of target-protein binding. The platform is based on a versatile 42-residue helix–loop–helix polypeptide that dimerizes to form four-helix bundles and allows site-selective modification with recognition and reporter elements on the side chains of individually addressable lysine residues. The well-characterized interaction between the model target-protein carbonic anhydrase and its inhibitor benzenesulfonamide was used for a proof-of-concept demonstration. An affinity array was designed where benzenesulfonamide derivatives with aliphatic or oligoglycine spacers and a fluorescent dansyl reporter group were introduced into the scaffold. The affinities of the array members for human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) were determined by titration with the target protein and were found to be highly affected by the properties of the spacers (dissociation constant K_d=0.02–3 μM). The affinity of HCAII for acetazolamide (K_d=4 nM) was determined in a competition experiment with one of the benzenesulfonamide array members to address the possibility of screening substance libraries for new target-protein binders. Also, successful affinity discrimination between different carbonic anhydrase isozymes highlighted the possibility of performing future isoform-expression profiling. Our platform is predicted to become a flexible tool for a variety of biosensor and protein-microarray applications within biochemistry, diagnostics and pharmaceutical chemistry.

Polypeptides designed to fold into helix−loop−helix motifs and to dimerize to form four-helix bundles were functionalized by the introduction of a sulfonamide derivative known to bind human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) and one or both of the dansyl- and methoxycoumarin fluorescent probes. The 42-residue sequence DC that carries all three substituents in solvent-exposed positions was found to bind HCAII with a dissociation constant of 5 nM in aqueous solution at pH 7. At 2 μM concentration, DC was mainly dimeric in aqueous solution but bound HCAII as a monomer. Upon addition of a large excess of a helix−loop−helix motif without a high-affinity ligand, KE2-Q, a ternary complex was formed between HCAII, DC, and KE2-Q. Hydrophobic interactions between DC and HCAII and coordination of the sulfonamide group to the zinc ion of HCAII contributed cooperatively to binding in a demonstration of the usefulness of folded polypeptide−small organic molecule chimera as novel protein receptors. The DC homodimer was found to be a very sensitive biosensor component due to intermolecular quenching of its fluorescence that was inhibited upon binding to HCAII.

No abstract available.