Implementation of antimicrobial peptides for sample preparation prior to nucleic acid amplification in point-of-care settings.

BACKGROUND: A variety of sample preparation techniques are used prior to nucleic acid amplification. However, their efficiency is not always sufficient and nucleic acid purification remains the preferred method for template preparation. Purification is difficult and costly to apply in point-of-care (POC) settings and there is a strong need for more robust, rapid, and efficient biological sample preparation techniques in molecular diagnostics. METHODS: Here, the authors applied antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) for urine sample preparation prior to isothermal loop-mediated amplification (LAMP). AMPs bind to many microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses causing disruption of their membrane integrity and facilitate nucleic acid release. RESULTS: The authors show that incubation of E. coli with antimicrobial peptide cecropin P1 for 5 min had a significant effect on the availability of template DNA compared with untreated or even heat treated samples resulting in up to six times increase of the amplification efficiency. CONCLUSION: These results show that AMPs treatment is a very efficient sample preparation technique that is suitable for application prior to nucleic acid amplification directly within biological samples. Furthermore, the entire process of AMPs treatment was performed at room temperature for 5 min thereby making it a good candidate for use in POC applications.

Optimization of in vivo DNA delivery with NickFect peptide vectors.

As the field of gene therapy progresses, an increasingly urgent need has arisen for efficient and non-toxic vectors for the in vivo delivery of nucleic acids. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPP) are very efficient transfection reagents in vitro, however, their application in vivo needs improvement. To enhance in vivo transfection we designed various CPPs based on previous knowledge of internalization studies and physiochemical properties of NickFect (NF) nanoparticles. We show that increment of the helicity of these Transportan10 analogues improves the transfection efficiency. We rationally design by modifying the net charge and the helicity of the CPP a novel amphipathic α-helical peptide NF55 for in vivo application. NF55 condenses DNA into stable nanoparticles that are resistant to protease degradation, promotes endosomal escape, and transfects the majority of cells in a large cell population. We demonstrate that NF55 mediates DNA delivery in vivo with gene induction efficiency that is comparable to commercial transfection reagents. In addition to gene induction in healthy mice, NF55/DNA nanoparticles showed promising tumor transfection in various mouse tumor models, including an intracranial glioblastoma model. The efficiency of NF55 to convey DNA specifically into tumor tissue increased even further after coupling a PEG2000 to the peptide via a disulphide-bond. Furthermore, a solid formulation of NF55/DNA displayed an excellent stability profile without additives or special storage conditions. Together, its high transfection efficacy and stability profile make NF55 an excellent vector for the delivery of DNA in vivo.

Combination with antimicrobial peptide lyses improves loop-mediated isothermal amplification based method for Chlamydia trachomatis detection directly in urine sample.

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular human pathogen and is the most common cause of sexually transmitted diseases affecting both men and women. The pathogen can cause prostatitis and epididymitis in men. In women, cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and acute or chronic pelvic pain are frequent complications. More than half of C. trachomatis-positive patients have minimal or no symptoms, providing an ongoing reservoir for the infection. The lack of sensitive large-scale applicable point- of- care (POC) tests for C. trachomatis detection makes it difficult to diagnose chlamydia infection efficiently in resource-limited environments. METHODS: A rapid and sensitive assay based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification method (LAMP) was combined with antimicrobial peptide lysis, which is able to detect at least 7 C. trachomatis pathogens per reaction directly from urine samples. RESULTS: Our study comprising 91 first-void urine samples showed that specificity of the assay is 100 % and sensitivity 73 % when using antimicrobial peptide lysis mix. Additionally we demonstrate that our assay does not give any cross-reactivity with 30 pathogen's DNA potentially present in the urine samples. Furthermore, the assay's novel approach does not require purification or extraction of DNA from clinical sample prior to amplification, so the need for specialized equipment is eliminated. CONCLUSIONS: The whole procedure is significantly less laborious, less time-consuming and consequently less expensive for early detection and identification of infectious disease. C. trachomatis specific LAMP assay is relatively simple to perform and could therefore be applied in numerous POC settings.

Intracellular Target-Specific Accretion of Cell Penetrating Peptides and Bioportides: Ultrastructural and Biological Correlates.

Cell penetrating peptide (CPP) technologies provide a viable strategy to regulate the activities of intracellular proteins that may be intractable to other biological agents. In particular, the cationic helical domains of proteins have proven to be a reliable source of proteomimetic bioportides, CPPs that modulate the activities of intracellular proteins. In this study we have employed live cell imaging confocal microscopy to determine the precise intracellular distribution of a chemically diverse set of CPPs and bioportides. Our findings indicate that, following efficient cellular entry, peptides are usually accreted at intracellular sites rather than being freely maintained in an aqueous cytosolic environment. The binding of CPPs to proteins in a relatively stable manner provides a molecular explanation for our findings. By extension, it is probable that many bioportides influence biological processes through a dominant-negative influence upon discrete protein-protein interactions. As an example, we report that bioportides derived from the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 discretely influence the biology and stability of this key therapeutic target in Parkinson's disease. The intracellular site-specific accretion of CPPs and bioportides can also be readily modulated by the attachment of larger cargoes or, more conveniently, short homing motifs. We conclude that site-specific intracellular targeting could be further exploited to expand the scope of CPP technologies.

Toxicity, Immunogenicity, Uptake, and Kinetics Methods for CPPs.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been utilized as delivery vectors for various payloads, both in vitro and in vivo. Similar issues as for any other drug delivery systems: cytotoxicity and the tendency to induce innate immune response may limit their applications in clinics. Therefore, assessment of cytotoxicity and immunogenicity is an important step toward characterization of applicability of these delivery vehicles. Studying internalization mechanisms and kinetics of CPPs provides important information for the development of novel and more efficient cellular delivery vectors. This chapter describes methods and protocols for investigation of cytotoxicity and immunogenic activities of CPPs in vitro and in vivo as well as methods for studying cellular uptake and internalization kinetics of CPPs. In the first section we describe methods for in vitro cell viability studies and ELISA assay, which allows to measure cytokine release in cell culture media and in blood serum in response to different CPP applications. This chapter also provides a protocol for assessing caspase-1 activity essential for inflammation. In the second section of this chapter, we describe a comprehensive method and protocol for determining the endocytosis mechanisms utilized in CPP uptake by using luciferin-CPP conjugates and endocytosis inhibitors.