The efficacies of many antimicrobial peptides are greatly reduced under high salt concentrations, limiting their development as pharmaceutical compounds. Here, we describe an easy strategy to increase salt resistance of antimicrobial peptides by replacing tryptophan or histidine residues with the bulky amino acids ␤-naphthylalanine and ␤-(4,4-biphenyl)alanine. The activities of the salt-sensitive peptide P-113 were diminished at high salt concentrations, whereas the activities of its ␤-naphthylalanine and ␤-(4,4-biphenyl)alanine-substituted variant were less affected.

bThe efficacies of many antimicrobial peptides are greatly reduced under high salt concentrations, therefore limiting their use as pharmaceutical agents. Here, we describe a strategy to boost salt resistance and serum stability of short antimicrobial peptides by adding the nonnatural bulky amino acid ␤-naphthylalanine to their termini. The activities of the short salt-sensitive tryptophan-rich peptide S1 were diminished at high salt concentrations, whereas the activities of its ␤-naphthylalanine end-tagged variants were less affected.

We describe a strategy to boost anticancer activity and reduce normal cell toxicity of short antimicrobial peptides by adding positive charge amino acids and non-nature bulky amino acid β-naphthylalanine residues to their termini. Among the designed peptides, K4R2-Nal2-S1 displayed better salt resistance and less toxicity to hRBCs and human fibroblast than Nal2-S1 and K6-Nal2-S1. Fluorescence microscopic studies indicated that the FITC-labeled K4R2-Nal2-S1 preferentially binds cancer cells and causes apoptotic cell death. Moreover, a significant inhibition in human lung tumor growth was observed in the xenograft mice treated with K4R2-Nal2-S1. Our strategy provides new opportunities in the development of highly effective and selective antimicrobial and anticancer peptide-based therapeutics.

Trp-rich antimicrobial peptides play important roles in the host innate defense mechanism of many plants and animals. A series of short Trp-rich peptides derived from the C-terminal region of Bothrops asper myothoxin II, a Lys49 phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)), were found to reproduce the antimicrobial activities of their parent molecule. Of these peptides, KKWRWWLKALAKK-designated PEM-2-was found to display improved activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. To improve the antimicrobial activity of PEM-2 for potential clinical applications further, we determined the solution structure of PEM-2 bound to membrane-mimetic dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles by two-dimensional NMR methods. The DPC micelle-bound structure of PEM-2 adopts an α-helical conformation and the positively charged residues are clustered together to form a hydrophilic patch. The surface electrostatic potential map indicates that two of the three tryptophan residues are packed against the peptide backbone and form a hydrophobic face with Leu7, Ala9, and Leu10. A variety of biophysical and biochemical experiments, including circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, and microcalorimetry, were used to show that PEM-2 interacted with negatively charged phospholipid vesicles and efficiently induced dye release from these vesicles, suggesting that the antimicrobial activity of PEM-2 could be due to interactions with bacterial membranes. Potent analogues of PEM-2 with enhanced antimicrobial and less pronounced hemolytic activities were designed with the aid of these structural studies.

bRelease of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (endotoxin) from bacteria into the bloodstream may cause serious unwanted stimulation of the host immune system. Some but not all antimicrobial peptides can neutralize LPS-stimulated proinflammatory responses. Salt resistance and serum stability of short antimicrobial peptides can be boosted by adding ␤-naphthylalanine to their termini. Herein, significant antiendotoxin effects were observed in vitro and in vivo with the ␤-naphthylalanine end-tagged variants of the short antimicrobial peptides S1 and KWWK.