Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
Department of Chemistry, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
Molecules. 2023 Feb 25;28(5):2156. doi: 10.3390/molecules28052156.
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are essential components of innate immunity across all species. AMPs have become the focus of attention in recent years, as scientists are addressing antibiotic resistance, a public health crisis that has reached epidemic proportions. This family of peptides represents a promising alternative to current antibiotics due to their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and tendency to avoid resistance development. A subfamily of AMPs interacts with metal ions to potentiate antimicrobial effectiveness, and, as such, they have been termed metalloAMPs. In this work, we review the scientific literature on metalloAMPs that enhance their antimicrobial efficacy when combined with the essential metal ion zinc(II). Beyond the role played by Zn(II) as a cofactor in different systems, it is well-known that this metal ion plays an important role in innate immunity. Here, we classify the different types of synergistic interactions between AMPs and Zn(II) into three distinct classes. By better understanding how each class of metalloAMPs uses Zn(II) to potentiate its activity, researchers can begin to exploit these interactions in the development of new antimicrobial agents and accelerate their use as therapeutics.
抗菌肽 (AMPs) 是所有物种先天免疫的重要组成部分。近年来，由于 AMPs 具有广谱抗菌活性和避免耐药性发展的趋势，它们已成为解决抗生素耐药性这一公共卫生危机的焦点。AMP 家族是当前抗生素的一种很有前途的替代品。AMP 的一个亚家族与金属离子相互作用以增强其抗菌效果，因此被称为金属抗菌肽 (metalloAMP)。在这项工作中，我们综述了关于金属抗菌肽的科学文献，这些抗菌肽在与必需金属离子锌 (II) 结合时增强了其抗菌功效。除了 Zn(II) 在不同系统中作为辅助因子所起的作用外，众所周知，这种金属离子在先天免疫中起着重要作用。在这里，我们将 AMP 与 Zn(II) 之间的协同相互作用分为三类。通过更好地了解每类金属抗菌肽如何利用 Zn(II)来增强其活性，研究人员可以开始利用这些相互作用来开发新的抗菌剂，并加速将其用作治疗剂。
