Prevention of urinary catheter-associated infections by coating antimicrobial peptides from crowberry endophytes

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Monteiro, Claudia, Costa, Fabíola, Pirttilä, Anna Maria, Tejesvi, Mysore V., Martins, M. Cristina L.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2019
• Subjects: Article; Crowberry
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6656713/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31341199; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47108-5

Urinary catheters are extensively used in hospitals, being responsible for about 75% of hospital-acquired infections. In this work, a de novo designed antimicrobial peptide (AMP) Chain201D was studied in the context of urinary catheter-associated infections. Chain201D showed excellent antimicrobial activity against relevant ATCC strains and clinical isolates of bacteria and yeast and demonstrated high stability in a wide range of temperatures, pH and salt concentrations. Moreover, the bactericidal activity of Chain201D immobilized on a model surface was studied against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), some of the most prevalent strains found in urinary catheter-associated infections. Chain201D was successfully tethered to ((1-mercapto-11-undecyl)-(tetra(ethylene glycol) (EG4)) terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), (EG4-SAMs), activated by 1,1′-Carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) at different concentrations. Chain201D surfaces can bind and kill by contact a high percentage of adherent bacteria. These achievements are obtained without any peptide modification (for chemoselective conjugation) and without the use of a spacer. Moreover, increased amounts of immobilized AMP lead to higher numbers of adhered/dead bacteria, revealing a concentration-dependent behaviour and demonstrating that Chain201D has excellent potential for developing antimicrobial urinary catheters.