Mechanisms of Antimicrobial and Anti-Endotoxin Activities of a
Triazine-Based Amphipathic Polymer
Abstract
Recently, numerous synthetic small molecular peptidomimetics have been
designed to overcome the shortcomings of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs),
such as protease instability and high production cost. TZP4 is a
triazine-based amphipathic polymer designed to mimic the amphipathic
structure found in AMPs. Compared to melittin, TZP4 showed superior
antimicrobial activity against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, such as
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug-resistant
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results of membrane depolarization, SYTOX Green
uptake, flow cytometry, and gel retardation assays suggested that the
mechanism of antimicrobial action of TZP4 involved an intracellular
target rather than the bacterial cell membrane. Furthermore, TZP4
suppressed the mRNA levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and
tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and inhibited the release of NO and
TNF-α in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells.
BODIPY-TR-cadaverine displacement and dissociation of Fluorescein
isothiocyanate (FITC) labelled lipopolysaccharides (LPS) assays revealed
that TZP4 strongly bound to Escherichia coli-derived LPS and
disaggregated the LPS oligomers. Additionally, flow cytometric analysis
revealed that TZP4 inhibited the binding of FITC-conjugated LPS to
RAW264.7 cells. These observations indicate that TZP4 may exert its
anti-endotoxin activity by directly binding with LPS and inhibiting the
interaction between LPS and CD14+ cells. Thus, we propose that TZP4 is a
promising drug candidate for the treatment of endotoxic shock and sepsis
caused by gram-negative bacterial infections.