Peptide/β-Peptoid Hybrids with Ultrashort PEG-Like Moieties: Effects on Hydrophobicity, Antibacterial Activity and Hemolytic Properties

Nicki Frederiksen*, Stavroula Louka*, Chirag Mudaliar*, Ilona Domraceva*, Agrita Kreicberga*, Osvalds Pugovics*, Dorota Żabicka*, Magdalena Tomczak*, Weronika Wygoda*, Fredrik Björkling*, Henrik Franzyk*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

PEGylation of antimicrobial peptides as a shielding tool that increases stability toward proteolytic degradation typically leads to concomitant loss of activity, whereas incorporation of ultrashort PEG-like amino acids (sPEGs) remains essentially unexplored. Here, modification of a peptide/β-peptoid hybrid with sPEGs was examined with respect to influence on hydrophobicity, antibacterial activity and effect on viability of mammalian cells for a set of 18 oligomers. Intriguingly, the degree of sPEG modification did not significantly affect hydrophobicity as measured by retention in reverse-phase HPLC. Antibacterial activity against both wild-type and drug-resistant strains of Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii (both Gram-negative pathogens) was retained or slightly improved (MICs in the range 2-16 µg/mL equal to 0.7-5.2 µM). All compounds in the series exhibited less than 10% hemolysis at 400 µg/mL. While the number of sPEG moieties appeared not to be clearly correlated with hemolytic activity, a trend toward slightly increased hemolytic activity was observed for analogues displaying the longest sPEGs. In contrast, within a subseries the viability of HepG2 liver cells was least affected by analogues displaying the longer sPEGs (with IC50 values of ~1280 µg/mL) as compared to most other analogues and the parent peptidomimetic (IC50 values in the range 330-800 µg/mL).

Original languageEnglish
Article number7041
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume22
Issue number13
Number of pages17
ISSN1424-6783
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

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