Diagnosing lysosomal storage diseases in a Brazilian non-newborn population by tandem mass spectrometry

OBJECTIVES: High-throughput mass spectrometry methods have been developed to screen newborns for lysosomal storage disorders, allowing the implementation of newborn screening pilot studies in North America and Europe. It is currently feasible to diagnose Pompe, Fabry, Gaucher, Krabbe, and Niemann-Pick A/B diseases, as well as mucopolysaccharidosis I, by tandem mass spectrometry in dried blood spots, which offers considerable technical advantages compared with standard methodologies. We aimed to investigate whether the mass spectrometry methodology for lysosomal storage disease screening, originally developed for newborns, can also discriminate between affected patients and controls of various ages. METHODS: A total of 205 control individuals were grouped according to age and subjected to mass spectrometry quantification of lysosomal α-glucosidase, β-glucocerebrosidase, α-galactosidase, acid sphingomyelinase, galactocerebrosidase, and α−L-iduronidase activities. Additionally, 13 affected patients were analyzed. RESULTS: The median activities for each enzyme and each age group were determined. Enzyme activities were significantly lower in individuals aged older than 18 years compared with those in newborns. Affected patients presented enzymatic activities corresponding to less than 20% of the age-matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that the mass spectrometry methodology can be used for the screening of lysosomal storage diseases in non-newborn patients. However, for some diseases, such as Fabry and mucopolysaccharidosis I, a combination of biochemical and clinical data may be necessary to achieve accurate diagnoses

The Peptide Salamandrin-I Modulates Components Involved in Pyroptosis and Induces Cell Death in Human Leukemia Cell Line HL-60

Amphibian secretions have been extensively investigated for the production of bioactive molecules. Salamandrin-I is an antioxidant peptide, isolated from the skin secretion of the fire salamander, that has induced no toxicity in microglia or erythrocytes. Importantly, the administration of antioxidants may constitute an adequate therapeutic approach to cancer treatment. Here, with the purpose of better characterizing the therapeutic potential of salamandrin-I, we investigated whether this antioxidant peptide also exerts anticancer activity, using the human leukemia cell line HL-60 as a cancer model. Salamandrin-I treatment induced a significant reduction in HL-60 proliferation, which was accompanied by cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, the peptide-induced cell death showed a significant increase in the LDH release in HL-60 cells. The cellular toxicity exerted by salamandrin-I is possibly related to pyroptosis, since the HL-60 cells showed loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and hyperexpression of inflammasome components following the peptide treatment. This is the first demonstration of the anticancer potential of the salamandrin-I peptide. Such results are important, as they offer relevant insights into the field of cancer therapy and allow the design of future bioactive molecules using salamandrin-I as a template

Antiviral activity of Intragenic Antimicrobial Peptides (IAPs)

SARS-CoV-2 é um vírus zoonótico que está causando enormes danos à saúde pública e à economia mundial. No momento em que o surto de Covid-19 foi declarado, não havia medicamentos antivirais específicos disponíveis e as drogas mais promissoras foram desenvolvidas originalmente para outros propósitos, como a hidroxicloroquina. Vários pesquisadores propõem o desenvolvimento de agentes antivirais de ação ampla como uma primeira frente de combate a vírus emergentes, e peptídeos são bons candidatos devido à amplitude de seus alvos moleculares, especificidade de suas interações e baixa toxicidade [1]. Já foram descritos peptídeos com atividade desestabilizadora de partículas virais, inibidores do processo de internalização viral por meio da interferência com proteínas fusionais, peptídeos ligantes a glicoproteínas virais e com propriedades imunomodulatórias

Intragenic antimicrobial peptides (IAPs) from human proteins with potent antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity

Following the treads of our previous works on the unveiling of bioactive peptides encrypted in plant proteins from diverse species, the present manuscript reports the occurrence of four proof-of-concept intragenic antimicrobial peptides in human proteins, named Hs IAPs. These IAPs were prospected using the software Kamal, synthesized by solid phase chemistry, and had their interactions with model phospholipid vesicles investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism. Their antimicrobial activity against bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi was determined, along with their cytotoxicity towards erythrocytes. Our data demonstrates that Hs IAPs are capable to bind model membranes while attaining α-helical structure, and to inhibit the growth of microorganisms at concentrations as low as 1μM. Hs02, a novel sixteen residue long internal peptide (KWAVRIIRKFIKGFISNH2) derived from the unconventional myosin 1h protein, was further investigated in its capacity to inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced release of TNF-α in murine macrophages. Hs02 presented potent anti-inflammatory activity, inhibiting the release of TNF-α in LPSprimed cells at the lowest assayed concentration, 0.1 μM. A three-dimensional solution structure of Hs02 bound to DPC micelles was determined by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Our work exemplifies how the human genome can be mined for molecules with biotechnological potential in human health and demonstrates that IAPs are actual alternatives to antimicrobial peptides as pharmaceutical agents or in their many other putative applications

Neuroprotective effects on microglia and insights into the structure–activity relationship of an antioxidant peptide isolated from Pelophylax perezi

© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedTryptophyllins constitute a heterogeneous group of peptides that are one of the first classes of peptides identified from amphibian's skin secretions. Here, we report the structural characterization and antioxidant properties of a novel tryptophyllin-like peptide, named PpT-2, isolated from the Iberian green frog Pelophylax perezi. The skin secretion of P. perezi was obtained by electrical stimulation and fractionated using RP-HPLC. De novo peptide sequencing was conducted using MALDI MS/MS. The primary structure of PpT-2 (FPWLLS-NH2 ) was confirmed by Edman degradation and subsequently investigated using in silico tools. PpT-2 shared physicochemical properties with other well-known antioxidants. To test PpT-2 for antioxidant activity in vitro, the peptide was synthesized by solid phase and assessed in the chemical-based ABTS and DPPH scavenging assays. Then, a flow cytometry experiment was conducted to assess PpT-2 antioxidant activity in oxidatively challenged murine microglial cells. As predicted by the in silico analyses, PpT-2 scavenged free radicals in vitro and suppressed the generation of reactive species in PMA-stimulated BV-2 microglia cells. We further explored possible bioactivities of PpT-2 against prostate cancer cells and bacteria, against which the peptide exerted a moderate antiproliferative effect and negligible antimicrobial activity. The biocompatibility of PpT-2 was evaluated in cytotoxicity assays and in vivo toxicity with Galleria mellonella. No toxicity was detected in cells treated with up to 512 µg/ml and in G. mellonella treated with up to 40 mg/kg PpT-2. This novel peptide, PpT-2, stands as a promising peptide with potential therapeutic and biotechnological applications, mainly for the treatment/prevention of neurodegenerative disorders.This work was financed by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031158 – PTDC/BII-BIO/31158/2017. The authors would like to thank the participation and scientific support of the Unit projects UIDB/50006/2020 | UIDP/50006/2020, and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Universal Faixa ‘B’ (grant number 32103/2018-0). A.P. is a recipient of a post-doctoral grant from the project PTDC/BII-BIO/31158/2017. The authors would like to thank the researcher Roberto Resendes (CiBio, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal) for the logistical support in the collection of samples. C.P.A acknowledges FCT-MCTES fellowship PD/BD/136860/2018. A.B.-N. and F.C.D.A.L. acknowledge CNPq (grants 420449/2018-3 and 428211/2018-6) for financial support.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estratégias para prospecção e predição de peptídeos bioativos

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, 2007.Os capítulos um e dois tratam da prospecção de peptídeos bioativos da secreção de Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis. Mais especificamente, o primeiro aplica técnicas proteômicas, principalmente espectrometria de massa, para o estudo de peptídeos relacionados à bradicinina (BRPs). Estes estavam presentes tanto na secreção solúvel quanto em fragmentos dissecados de pele do anfíbio. Dezoito BRPs, assim como suas modificações pós-traducionais, foram caracterizados por seqüenciamento MS/MS denovo e experimentos de geração de imagens por MALDI em um fragmento de pele. Essas moléculas tiveram alta similaridade de seqüência com as cininas plasmáticas de alguns mamíferos e répteis. Tamanha diversidade de moléculas dentro da mesma família peptídica e pertencendo a mesma espécie pode estar relacionada à especializações funcionais desses peptídeos a uma variedade de receptores correspondentes em diferentes predadores. Também um novo análogo, [Val]1,[Thr]6-bradicinil-Gln,Ser teve sua atividade biológica detectada em culturas celulares expressando o receptor de bradicinina humana B2 e em preparações de íleo de porquinho-da-índia. O capítulo dois descreve a mesma aproximação metodológica para o estudo de peptídeos antimicrobianos da família das dermaseptinas. As estruturas primárias dessas moléculas, nomeadas de DShypo 01, 02, 03, 04, 06 e 07 foram obtidas por experimentos MS/MS de novo, degradação de Edman e seqüenciamento de cDNA. O quinto peptídeo foi o mesmo DS 01 de Phyllomedusa oreades, previamente descrito pelo nosso grupo. A maioria dos peptídeos purificados do extrato cutâneo total de P. hypochondrialis pôde ser diretamente localizada e mapeada em um fragmento de pele dorsal usando técnicas de obtenção de imagens por espectrometria de massa. Comparações foram feitas entre peptídeos e drogas comerciais com relação à suas atividades antimicrobianas e contra Leishmania amazonensis. Também foram executados estudos comparativos dos efeitos líticos em células do sangue de mamíferos e da interação com vesículas de DMPC por ressonância plasmônica de superfície. Os capítulos três e quatro tratam do estudo da interação de peptídeos membranoativos com membranas modelo, com ênfase em sua categorização em grupos e predição de atividade. Para tal, dezessete peptídeos membrano-ativos foram sintetizados e tiveram suas interações com vesículas unilamelares de DMPC e de DMPC/DMPG (2:1 mol/mol) estudadas por uma série de técnicas biofísicas. Estas técnicas permitiram a dissecção das interações entre peptídeos e membranas em termos de sua interação inicial, grau de inserção em membranas e indução de extravasamento de marcadores fluorescentes. Por esta aproximação, ficou clara a existência de no mínimo cinco sub-grupos funcionais de peptídeos membrano-ativos, sendo três desses grupos compostos por antimicrobianos, um de peptídeos penetradores de células e mais um de peptídeos membrano-ativos capazes unicamente de adsorção em membranas. Também as relações estrutura e função são revistas de acordo com esta nova perspectiva. O capítulo quatro descreve a determinação de parâmetros termodinâmicos para a adsorção do mesmo grupo de dezessete peptídeos em vesículas fosfolipídicas. Para tal, as isotermas de interação obtidas por calorimetria de titulação isotérmica (ITC) foram analisadas pelo método de partição em superfície. Esse método é capaz de extrair das isotermas uma constante de afinidade intrínsica ao peptídeo (Kp), a qual exclui efeitos eletrostáticos, além de uma constante de afinidade aparente (Kapp). Somente quatro dos dezessete peptídeos tiveram isotermas passíveis de ajuste com extração de parâmetros verossímeis. Esses peptídeos tiveram interação primariamente eletrostáticas com membranas, conforme classificado no capítulo três. As causas do não ajuste das isotermas de interação para alguns peptídeos foram discutidas em detalhe e relacionadas ao seu mecanismo de interação específico. _______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTChapters one and two deal with the isolation and identification of bioactive peptides from the skin secretion of Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis. The first chapter demonstrates the use of protemic techniques, mainly mass spectrometry, for the study of bradykinin related peptides (BRPs) present in the amphibian´s secretion and freshly dissected skin fragments. Eighteen BRPs, along with their post-translational modifications, were characterized in the secretion by de novo MS/MS sequencing and direct MALDI imaging experiments on the frog skin. These molecules revealed strong sequence similarities to the main plasma kinins of mammals and reptiles. Such a diversity of molecules, within the same peptide family, belonging to a single amphibian species may be related to functional specializations of these peptides and a variety of corresponding receptors that might be present in a number of different predators. Also, a novel analog, [Val]1,[Thr]6-bradykinyl-Gln,Ser had its biological activity positively detected in cell culture expressing the human bradykinin B2 receptor and in guinea pig ileum preparations. Chapter two describes the same methodological approach to the study of antimicrobial peptides from the dermaseptin family. The primary structures of these molecules, named DShypo 01, 02, 03, 04, 06, and 07, were determined by de novo MS/MS experiments, Edman degradation, and cDNA sequencing. The fifth peptide was found to be precisely the same DS 01 from Phyllomedusa oreades, previously described by our group. The majority of the peptides purified from the crude skin secretion could be directly localized and mapped onto a freshly dissected dorsal skin fragment using mass spectrometry-imaging techniques. Comparisons between peptides and commercial drugs on their antibacterial and anti-Leishmania amazonensis efficiencies, associated with peptide lytic effects on mammalian blood cells and surface plasmon resonance interaction studies on immobilized DMPC vesicles, were also performed. Chapters three and four describe the study of membrane-active peptides with model membranes, emphasizing their categorization and bioactivity prediction. Seventeen membrane-active peptides were synthesized and had their interaction with DMPC and DMPC/DMPG (2:1 mol/mol) large unilamelar vesicles studied by a series of biophysical techniques. These techniques allowed the dissection of the interaction of peptides with membranes in terms of their initial recognition, degree of insertion in the bilayer and induction of fluorescent dye leakage. This approach made clear the existence of at least five functional groups of membrane-active peptides, three of them composed of antimicrobial molecules, one of cell-penetrating peptides and one of peptides only capable of adsorption. Also, structural and functional relationships relevant to the interaction of peptides and membranes were re-evaluated according to this new perspective. Chapter four deals with the extraction of thermodynamical parameters from the adsorption of the same group of seventeen peptides into phospholipid vesicles. For such, interaction isotherms were obtained by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and analyzed by the surface partition method. This method is capable of estimating an intrinsic affinity constant (Kp), that excludes electrostatic effects, as well as an apparent affinity constant (Kapp). Membrane adsorption of only four out of seventeen peptides resulted in isotherms capable of adjustment to the surface partition model. These peptides had interactions mainly driven by electrostatic effects, as categorized in chapter three. The reasons for the incapacity to fit the isotherms were discussed and related to specific peptide mechanisms

Diagnosing lysosomal storage diseases in a Brazilian non-newborn population by tandem mass spectrometry

OBJECTIVES: High-throughput mass spectrometry methods have been developed to screen newborns for lysosomal storage disorders, allowing the implementation of newborn screening pilot studies in North America and Europe. It is currently feasible to diagnose Pompe, Fabry, Gaucher, Krabbe, and Niemann-Pick A/B diseases, as well as mucopolysaccharidosis I, by tandem mass spectrometry in dried blood spots, which offers considerable technical advantages compared with standard methodologies. We aimed to investigate whether the mass spectrometry methodology for lysosomal storage disease screening, originally developed for newborns, can also discriminate between affected patients and controls of various ages. METHODS: A total of 205 control individuals were grouped according to age and subjected to mass spectrometry quantification of lysosomal α-glucosidase, β-glucocerebrosidase, α-galactosidase, acid sphingomyelinase, galactocerebrosidase, and α−L-iduronidase activities. Additionally, 13 affected patients were analyzed. RESULTS: The median activities for each enzyme and each age group were determined. Enzyme activities were significantly lower in individuals aged older than 18 years compared with those in newborns. Affected patients presented enzymatic activities corresponding to less than 20% of the age-matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that the mass spectrometry methodology can be used for the screening of lysosomal storage diseases in non-newborn patients. However, for some diseases, such as Fabry and mucopolysaccharidosis I, a combination of biochemical and clinical data may be necessary to achieve accurate diagnoses

Characterization of novel human intragenic antimicrobial peptides, incorporation and release studies from ureasil-polyether hybrid matrix

Intragenic antimicrobial peptides (IAPs) are internal sequences of proteins with physicochemical similarities to Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) that, once identified and synthesized as individual entities, present antimicrobial activity. Many mature proteins encoded by the genomes of virtually any organism may be regarded as inner reservoirs of IAPs, conferring them ample biotechnological potential. However, IAPs may also share shortcomings with AMPs, such as low half-life in biological media and non-specific adsorption in eukaryotic cells. The present manuscript reports a translational approach that encompasses the uncovering of two novel IAPs from human proteins as well as the first results concerning the incorporation and sustained release of one of these peptides from ureasil-polyether hybrid polymeric films. For such, the software Kamal was used to scan putative IAPs in the human proteome, and two peptides, named Hs05 and Hs06, were identified, synthesized, and tested as antimicrobials. Biophysical assays were conducted using model phospholipid vesicles and 1H NMR solution structures in phospholipid micelles were obtained for the IAP Hs05. This peptide was incorporated in a polymeric matrix composed of the ureasil/PPO-PEO-PPO triblock copolymer, and the resulting films were evaluated by atomic force microscopy and imaging mass spectrometry. The release rate of Hs05 from the polymeric matrix was assessed and the antimicrobial activity of Hs05-loaded hybrid polymeric films was evaluated against the bacterium Escherichia coli. This study represents the first steps towards the development of polymeric films enriched with IAPs obtained from the human proteome as sustained release devices for topical application.Instituto de Química (IQ)Faculdade de Medicina (FMD