Bacteriocins, antimicrobial peptides from bacteria, as novel therapeutics

U zadnjih nekoliko desetljeća bakterijska rezistencija naspram antibiotika je postala jedan od gorućih zdravstvenih problema diljem svijeta. Kao potencijalni odgovor danas se, među ostalim, razmatraju antimikrobni peptidi (AMP) - multifunkcionalne molekule s direktnom antimikrobnom aktivnosti i/ili imunomodulatornim djelovanjem. Jedna važna skupina ovih peptida su bakteriocini, ribosomski sintetizirani AMP-i iz bakterija. Ovi peptidi, koje sintetiziraju gram-pozitivne i gram-negativne bakterije osim antibakterijske, pokazuju i antivirusnu, te antitumorsku aktivnost. Unatoč velikom terapeutskom potencijalu, bakteriocini do danas nisu ušli u kliničku primjenu zbog nedostataka koji se povezuju s većinom poznatih AMP-a, a to su visoki troškovi proizvodnje, toksičnost naspram stanica domaćina i nestabilnost u fiziološkim uvjetima. Iz tog razloga, brojna istraživanja su fokusirana na modificiranje ovih peptida kako bi se dizajnirali i sintetizirali analozi s poboljšanim svojstvima.In the last few decades, bacterial resistance to antibiotics has become one of the largest health concerns worldwide. As a potential answer to the growing concern, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are being investigated. These are multifunctional molecules with direct antimicrobial activity and/or immunomodulatory properties. An important group of these types of peptides are bacteriocins, ribosomally synthesized peptides from bacteria. These peptides, which can be synthesized by gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, show not only antibacterial, but also antiviral and anticancer activity. Even though bacteriocins show promising therapeutic potential, they are yet to be adapted into clinical use due to their shortcomings, similar as the most other known AMPs, such as high costs of production, toxicity to the host cells and low stability in physiological conditions. For that reason, current researches are focused on modifying these peptides in order to design and synthesize analogues with improved properties