Document Report Card
Basic Information
ID: ALA4130478
Journal: Eur J Med Chem
Title: Improved proteolytic stability and potent activity against Leishmania infantum trypanothione reductase of α/β-peptide foldamers conjugated to cell-penetrating peptides.
Authors: de Lucio H, Gamo AM, Ruiz-Santaquiteria M, de Castro S, Sánchez-Murcia PA, Toro MA, Gutiérrez KJ, Gago F, Jiménez-Ruiz A, Camarasa MJ, Velázquez S.
Abstract: The objective of the current study was to enhance the proteolytic stability of peptide-based inhibitors that target critical protein-protein interactions at the dimerization interface of Leishmania infantum trypanothione reductase (Li-TryR) using a backbone modification strategy. To achieve this goal we carried out the synthesis, proteolytic stability studies and biological evaluation of a small library of α/β3-peptide foldamers of different length (from 9-mers to 13-mers) and different α→β substitution patterns related to prototype linear α-peptides. We show that several 13-residue α/β3-peptide foldamers retain inhibitory potency against the enzyme (in both activity and dimerization assays) while they are far less susceptible to proteolytic degradation than an analogous α-peptide. The strong dependence of the binding affinities for Li-TryR on the length of the α,β-peptides is supported by theoretical calculations on conformational ensembles of the resulting complexes. The conjugation of the most proteolytically stable α/β-peptide with oligoarginines results in a molecule with potent activity against L. infantum promastigotes and amastigotes.
CiteXplore: 29017116