In different animal models, we find a central role for mitochondrial dysfunction, and for impaired autophagy as its principal downstream effector, in development of AP. In particular, the pathway involving enhanced interaction of cyclophilin D with ATP synthase mediates L-arginine-induced pancreatitis, a model of severe AP the pathogenesis of which has remained unknown. Strategies to restore mitochondrial and/or autophagic function might be developed for treatment of AP.

Iron overload is the hallmark of hereditary hemochromatosis and a complication of iron-loading anemias such as β-thalassemia. Treatment can be burdensome and have significant side effects, and new therapeutic options are needed. Iron overload in hereditary hemochromatosis and β-thalassemia intermedia is caused by hepcidin deficiency. Although transgenic hepcidin replacement in mouse models of these diseases prevents iron overload or decreases its potential toxicity, natural hepcidin is prohibitively expensive for human application and has unfavorable pharmacologic properties. Here, we report the rational design of hepcidin agonists based on the mutagenesis of hepcidin and the hepcidin-binding region of ferroportin and computer modeling of their docking. We identified specific hydrophobic/aromatic residues required for hepcidin-ferroportin binding and obtained evidence in vitro that a thiol-disulfide interaction between ferroportin C326 and the hepcidin disulfide cage may stabilize binding. Guided by this model, we showed that 7-9 N-terminal amino acids of hepcidin, including a single thiol cysteine, comprised the minimal structure that retained hepcidin activity, as shown by the induction of ferroportin degradation in reporter cells. Further modifications to increase resistance to proteolysis and oral bioavailability yielded minihepcidins that, after parenteral or oral administration to mice, lowered serum iron levels comparably to those after parenteral native hepcidin. Moreover, liver iron concentrations were lower in mice chronically treated with minihepcidins than those in mice treated with solvent alone. Minihepcidins may be useful for the treatment of iron overload disorders.

4F is an anti-inflammatory, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)-mimetic peptide that is active in vivo at nanomolar concentrations in the presence of a large molar excess of apoA-I. Physiologic concentrations (?35 mM) of human apoA-I did not inhibit the production of LDL-induced monocyte chemotactic activity by human aortic endothelial cell cultures, but adding nanomolar concentrations of 4F in the presence of ?35 mM apoA-I significantly reduced this inflammatory response. We analyzed lipid binding by surface plasmon resonance. The anti-inflammatory 4F peptide bound oxidized lipids with much higher affinity than did apoA-I.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are small cationic peptides that cross the cell membrane while carrying macromolecular cargoes. We use solid-state NMR to investigate the structure and lipid interaction of two cationic residues, Arg 10 and Lys 13 , in the CPP penetratin. 13 C chemical shifts indicate that Arg 10 adopts a rigid β-strand conformation in the liquid-crystalline state of anionic lipid membranes. This behavior contrasts with all other residues observed so far in this peptide, which adopt a dynamic β-turn conformation with coil-like chemical shifts at physiological temperature. Low-temperature 13 C-31 P distances between the peptide and the lipid phosphates indicate that both the Arg 10 guanidinium Cζ and the Lys 13 Cε lie in close proximity to the lipid 31 P (4.0 -4.2 Å), proving the existence of charge-charge interaction for both Arg 10 and Lys 13 in the gel-phase membrane. However, since lysine substitution in CPPs are known to reduce their translocation ability, we propose that low temperature stabilizes both lysine and arginine interactions with the phosphates, whereas at high temperature the lysine-phosphate interaction is much weaker than the argininephosphate interaction. This is supported by the unusually high rigidity of the Arg 10 sidechain and its β-strand conformation at high temperature. The latter is proposed to be important for ion pair formation by allowing close approach of the lipid headgroups to guanidinium sidechains. 19 F and 13 C spin diffusion experiments indicate that penetratin is oligomerized into β-sheets in gel-phase membranes. These solid-state NMR data indicate that guanidinium-phosphate interactions exist in penetratin, and guanidinium groups play a stronger structural role than ammonium groups in the lipid-assisted translocation of CPPs across liquid-crystalline cell membranes. Keywordscell-penetrating peptide; lipid bilayer; guanidinium-phosphate interaction; 13 C-31 P REDOR; arginine; lysine Cell-penetrating peptides (CPP) are arginine-and lysine-rich cationic peptides that can readily enter cells not only by themselves but also carrying other macromolecular cargos (1-3). Thus they are promising drug-delivery molecules. Many studies have established that the intracellular entry of CPPs is related to their strong affinity to lipid bilayers (4). The lipid *Corresponding author: Mei Hong, Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. Tel: 515-294-3521, Fax: 515-294-0105, E-mail: mhong@iastate.edu. Supporting information available 13 C chemical shift assignments of Arg 10 -labeled penetratin in POPC/POPG membranes and RMSD analyses of REDOR data are provided. This supplemental material is free of charge online at http://pubs.acs.org. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptBiochemistry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 June 2. membrane can be the plasma membrane of the cell or the endosomal membrane from which CPPs must escape after endocytosis (5). The fundamental biophysical question of interest is how these highly cationic peptides cross th...

SUMMARY Hereditary hemochromatosis, an iron overload disease caused by a deficiency in the iron-regulatory hormone hepcidin, is associated with lethal infections by siderophilic bacteria. To elucidate the mechanisms of this susceptibility, we infected wild-type and hepcidin-deficient mice with the siderophilic bacterium Vibrio vulnificus, and found that hepcidin deficiency results in increased bacteremia and decreased survival of infected mice, which can be partially ameliorated by dietary iron depletion. Additionally, timely administration of hepcidin agonists to hepcidin-deficient mice induces hypoferremia that decreases bacterial loads and rescues these mice from death, regardless of initial iron levels. Studies of Vibrio vulnificus growth ex vivo show that high iron sera from hepcidin-deficient mice support extraordinarily rapid bacterial growth, and that this is inhibited in hypoferremic sera. Our findings demonstrate that hepcidin-mediated hypoferremia is a host defense mechanism against siderophilic pathogens and suggest that hepcidin agonists may improve infection outcomes in patients with hereditary hemochromatosis or thalassemia.