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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, October 1998, p. 2690-2693, Vol. 42, No. 10
Departments of
Medicine,1
Microbiology and
Immunology,5 and
Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine,6 School of Medicine,
Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202;
Department of
Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
981042; and
Department of
Medicine3 and
Molecular Biology
Institute,4 University of California, Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095
Received 24 April 1998/Returned for modification 18 June
1998/Accepted 28 July 1998
Protegrins, potent antimicrobial peptides found in porcine
leukocytes, have activity against the sexually
transmitted pathogens Neisseria gonorrhoeae,
Chlamydia trachomatis, and human immunodeficiency virus
type 1. We tested synthetic protegrin 1 (PG-1) for activity against
nine isolates of Haemophilus ducreyi, the etiologic agent of chancroid. The test organisms included CIP 542 (the type strain), 35000HP (a human-passaged variant of 35000), 35000HP-RSM2 (an isogenic
D-glycero-D-manno-heptosyltransferase
mutant of 35000HP), and six clinical isolates. The isolates
were epidemiologically unrelated, represented three HindIII
ribotypes, and had varying antimicrobial resistance patterns.
In bactericidal assays, five isolates were rapidly killed by synthetic
PG-1. In radial diffusion assays, all nine isolates were exquisitely
sensitive to PG-1. These data highlight the potential of
protegrins for development as topical agents to prevent many sexually
transmitted diseases, including chancroid.
Haemophilus ducreyi
causes chancroid, a genital ulcer disease common in developing
countries (10, 20). In a process called epidemiologic
synergy, H. ducreyi and the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) facilitate the transmission of each other (1, 16, 18,
21). The impact of chancroid and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) on heterosexually acquired HIV infection has increased interest in the development of topical microbicides that are active against all the major STD pathogens.
Protegrins are cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides derived from
porcine leukocytes (7, 24). Protegrins contain 16 to 18 amino acid residues and a The activity of protegrins against N. gonorrhoeae,
C. trachomatis, herpes simplex virus type 2, and HIV-1
makes them excellent candidates for use as topical agents against
STDs. Here we tested the ability of synthetic protegrin 1 (PG-1) to
kill several H. ducreyi isolates, including the
type strain, an isolate recovered from an experimentally infected human
subject and its isogenic lipooligosaccharide (LOS) mutant, and six
recent clinical isolates.
(This work was presented at the International Congress of Sexually
Transmitted Disease in Seville, Spain, October 1997.)
Bacteria.
The origins and years of isolation of the
H. ducreyi strains are listed in Table
1. H. ducreyi CIP 542 is
the type strain (5). H. ducreyi 35000HP
(human passaged) was recovered from a subject who was experimentally
infected with 35000 (ATCC 33922) for 13 days (15).
H. ducreyi 35000HP-RSM2 (kindly provided by Robert S. Munson, Jr.) is an isogenic mutant of 35000HP and contains an
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Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Haemophilus ducreyi Is Susceptible
to Protegrin
![]()
ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References
-sheet structure that is stabilized by two
intramolecular cysteine disulfide bonds. The maintenance of the
-sheet structure by the disulfide bonds is required for the
retention of antimicrobial activity in solutions containing salt
concentrations similar to those found in extracellular fluid (4). Protegrins inactivate Neisseria gonorrhoeae,
Chlamydia trachomatis, HIV type 1 (HIV-1) (11, 17,
22), and herpes simplex virus type 2 (unpublished data).
Protegrins kill gram-negative bacteria by binding to lipids and
permeabilizing the outer and inner membranes. In studies performed with
derivatives of protegrins, a 12-mer containing one disulfide bond
retains almost all activity against N. gonorrhoeae
(12). However, optimal activity against C. trachomatis requires both disulfide bonds (23).
![]()
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References
kan insertion in losB, which encodes
D-glycero-D-manno-heptosyltransferase (3). H. ducreyi 35000HP-RSM2 produces a
truncated LOS that terminates in a single glucose attached to a heptose
trisaccharide core and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid (KDO) and is
identical in structure to a Tn916 derivative of 35000, designated 1381 (3). H. ducreyi 35000HP-RSM2
and 35000HP have identical outer membrane protein profiles and
growth rates, and both isolates are resistant to normal human serum
(unpublished observations). The HMC series are recent clinical isolates
of H. ducreyi with diverse geographic origins. Except
as indicated below, the isolates were routinely grown on chocolate agar
supplemented with 1% IsoVitaleX at 35°C in a 5% CO2
atmosphere. For ribotyping and determination of MICs, the chocolate
agar was supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) as described
previously (6).
TABLE 1.
H. ducreyi strains used in this study
Ribotyping. The H. ducreyi isolates were ribotyped by a modification of the method of Sarafian and coworkers (13), except that rRNA probes were prepared by using a reverse transcriptase kit according to the manufacturer's directions (Gibco-BRL, Gaithersburg, Md.) rather than end labeling. The bands of the isolates were compared with those of the 13 known HindIII ribotypes (13) (unpublished data).
MICs. The H. ducreyi isolates were tested for their susceptibility to the following antibiotics: erythromycin (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.), azithromycin (Pfizer, Inc., Groton, Conn.), ceftriaxone (Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., Nutley, N.J.), and ciprofloxacin (Bayer, Westhaven, Conn.), penicillin (Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, Ind.), tetracycline (Sigma), chloramphenicol (Sigma), and kanamycin (Sigma). MICs were determined by a plate dilution method described previously for H. ducreyi (6) with modifications in the inoculum preparation to reduce clumping of the bacteria. Bacteria were grown overnight on freshly prepared chocolate agar-FBS plates (GC agar base, 1% hemoglobin, 1% IsoVitaleX, and 5% FBS) and adjusted to the density of a 0.5 McFarland standard. Approximately 104 CFU were applied to chocolate agar-FBS plates containing serial twofold dilutions of antibiotics by using a Steers replicator. All plates were incubated at 35°C in an atmosphere of 3% CO2 and analyzed after 24 and 48 h of incubation; there were no differences in the results at these two time points.
Peptides. Synthetic PG-1 was C-terminally amidated, prepared with Fmoc (9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl) chemistry (SynPep, Dublin, Calif.) and purified in our laboratory (12). Synthetic PG-1 was identical to native PG-1 in mass, net charge, behavior in sodium dodecyl sulfate-acid urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and activity against a panel of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (data not shown).
Bactericidal assays. H. ducreyi was grown overnight at 34°C in brain heart infusion (BHI) (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.) broth containing 0.1% soluble starch (Fisher Scientific, Itasca, Ill.), 1% IsoVitaleX, and 50 µg of hemin (Aldrich Chemical Co., Milwaukee, Wis.) per ml. The cells were diluted in fresh broth and grown to mid-log phase. The cells were harvested, rinsed three times, and suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 1% BHI (PBS-BHI).
PG-1 was dissolved in 0.01% acetic acid. In each assay, 106 to 107 CFU of bacteria per ml in 9 volumes of PBS-BHI were incubated with 1 volume of PG-1 or 1 volume of 0.01% acetic acid lacking PG-1. Time course studies were done with a protegrin concentration of 50 µg/ml in a final volume of 200 µl, and the number of CFU was determined after 15 min, 1 h, and 2 h of incubation. Dose response studies were done with protegrin concentrations ranging from 1.6 to 50 µg/ml in a final volume of 100 µl, and the number of CFU was determined after 1 h of incubation. All assays were done at 34°C. The number of CFU was determined by plating in triplicate 10 µl of undiluted sample and 10-fold serial dilutions of the sample. Bacterial killing was expressed as the log10 of the CFU per milliliter in the acetic acid control wells divided by the log10 of the CFU per milliliter in the protegrin-treated wells for each data point. In these assays, the lowest detectable concentration of bacteria was 102 CFU/ml. Thus, maximal detectable killing was expressed as
4 log10 CFU. All assays were performed three to five
times.
To examine whether antibiotic carryover occurred in the bactericidal
assays, 103 CFU of 35000HP were added to wells containing
either 50 µg of protegrin per ml or the acetic acid control in a
final volume of 100 µl, and 10 µl was immediately plated. There
were no differences in the CFU recovered between the protegrin-treated
and control wells.
Bacterial viability staining. Staining for bacterial viability was done with the LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability Kit (Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, Oreg.). H. ducreyi 35000HP was incubated with protegrin (50 µg/ml) or the acetic acid control as described above for 15 min. The samples (200 µl) were diluted in 1 ml of PBS, centrifuged, suspended in 100 µl of PBS, and stained for 15 min at room temperature in the dark with 0.3 µl of 3.34 mM STYO 9 green and with 1 µl of 2.0 mM propidium iodide. The samples were viewed with a fluorescein-rhodamine dual filter and photographed.
Radial diffusion assays. Radial diffusion assays were done by a modification of methods described previously (8, 11, 16). Underlay gels contained 1.5 g of proteose peptone (Difco), 4 g of K2HPO4, 1 g of KH2PO4, 5 g of NaCl (all salts purchased from Fisher Scientific), 1 g of soluble starch, and 10 g of A-6013 agarose (Sigma Chemical Co.) per liter. Agarose was included in the nutrient-poor underlay gel to avoid electrostatic interactions between the protegrin and the polyionic components of agar (16). Nutrient-rich overlay gels were made from the same components as the underlay gels, except that the concentration of proteose peptone was 15 g/liter, and 10 g of agar (Sigma) was substituted for the agarose. The overlay gels also contained 2% IsoVitaleX, 20% FBS (HyClone Laboratories, Logan, Utah), and 400 mg of catalase (Sigma) per liter. Catalase was used as a porphyrin source so that the plates were clear (19) and had easily readable zones of inhibition.
Ten milliliters of the underlay gel was mixed with approximately 106 to 107 CFU of H. ducreyi that had been grown on chocolate agar plates overnight and poured into a 100- by 15-mm petri dish. Seven evenly spaced wells were made in the gel with a 3-mm punch forceps, and the agarose plugs were removed with a pipette tip. PG-1 was dissolved and serially diluted in 0.01% acetic acid and 0.1% bovine serum albumin (Reheis Chemical Co., Phoenix, Ariz.), and 8 µl of each dilution was added to each well. The plates were incubated at 35°C in a 5% CO2 atmosphere for 3 h, and 10 ml of the overlay gel was added to the plates. The plates were incubated for an additional 48 to 72 h, and the clear zones surrounding the wells were measured. The diameter of clearing was expressed in units (0.1 mm = 1 U) and was calculated after the diameter (3 mm = 30 U) of the well had been subtracted as described previously (8, 16). In each experiment, an individual isolate was tested on duplicate plates. Each experiment was repeated two to four times. The susceptibilities of 35000HP and 35000HP-RSM2 were determined four times concurrently. The results were compared by using a mixed-effects analysis of variance model to adjust for differences in experiments performed on different days.| |
RESULTS |
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Classification and antimicrobial susceptibility of the H. ducreyi isolates. The origins and years of isolation of the nine H. ducreyi isolates are listed in Table 1. The isolates belonged to either ribotypes 1, 2, or 4 (Table 1). The type strain (CIP 542) and 35000HP were susceptible to all antibiotics tested (Table 1). The isogenic LOS mutant, 35000HP-RSM2, was resistant to kanamycin, as expected. The six epidemiologically unrelated recent clinical isolates were variably resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, kanamycin, and chloramphenicol but were susceptible to azithromycin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, and ceftriaxone. The MICs for the clinical isolates were typical of those reported so far for most H. ducreyi strains in the 1990s, except for HMC 49, which was susceptible to penicillin and tetracycline (2, 6, 20).
Time course and dose-response assays.
Five H. ducreyi isolates were tested for susceptibility to PG-1 in
classical killing assays. Poor growth in broth precluded testing
of four of the recent clinical isolates. PG-1 rapidly killed the five
isolates tested, causing
4-log10-unit decrease within the first 15 min of the 2-h time course (data not shown).
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Radial diffusion assay. To further exclude the possibility that PG-1 was clumping the organism, we tested the ability of PG-1 to inhibit the growth of all nine H. ducreyi isolates in a radial diffusion assay similar to that developed for N. gonorrhoeae (11). Plots of 35000HP and its isogenic LOS mutant 35000HP-RSM2 are shown in Fig. 2. The estimated minimal effective concentration of the peptide, which corresponds to the x intercept of the plots shown in Fig. 2 (8, 11, 16), ranged from 0.6 to 5 µg/ml (Table 1). In this assay, the minimal effective concentration of PG-1 for 35000HP-RSM2 was significantly lower than that for 35000HP (Table 1 and Fig. 2) (P = 0.004). Since entrapping the target cells in a gel precluded their agglutination by the peptide, these data confirm that PG-1 inhibits the growth of H. ducreyi.
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DISCUSSION |
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Protegrins consist of a family of five highly homologous peptides of porcine origin (7, 11, 24, 25). The protegrins contain 16 to 18 amino acid residues and 4 invariant cysteines that form intramolecular disulfide bonds. In size and conformation, the protegrins most closely resemble tachyplesins, antimicrobial peptides found in hemocytes of horseshoe crabs (7). Protegrins also resemble defensins, antimicrobial peptides found in human neutrophils and rabbit heterophiles, but are considerably smaller than defensins and have a different spectrum of activity (7).
The sexually transmitted pathogens N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis, herpes simplex virus type 2, and HIV-1 are all exquisitely susceptible to PG-1. Although HIV-1 and C. trachomatis are somewhat susceptible to defensins (17, 22), PG-1 is more potent than defensins in inactivating these organisms. Defensins have no activity against N. gonorrhoeae and lose activity against C. trachomatis in the presence of serum (11, 22). Thus, protegrins are better candidates than defensins for use as topical microbicides against STDs. Since PG-1 is as potent as the other protegrins in killing N. gonorrhoeae, we screened H. ducreyi for susceptibility to protegrins with synthetic PG-1.
In the liquid killing assay, both antibiotic-susceptible and -resistant strains of H. ducreyi were killed by PG-1. Concentrations of PG-1 ranging from 6.3 to 12.5 µg/ml killed 2 log10 CFU of the five isolates tested. Bacteria with damaged membranes were visible after exposure to the peptide, confirming that the peptide killed the organism.
In the radial diffusion assay, the estimated minimal effective concentration of PG-1 for growth inhibition ranged from 0.6 to 5 µg/ml for the nine isolates tested. Similarly, the estimated minimal effective concentration of PG-1 for several N. gonorrhoeae strains ranges from 1 to 2 µg/ml (11). Protegrins permeabilize the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria by binding to lipid A of lipopolysaccharide (unpublished data). The LOSs of H. ducreyi and N. gonorrhoeae are structurally and immunochemically similar, and the major glycoforms of both species terminate in N-acetyllactosamine capped by sialic acid (3, 9, 14). How protegrin interacts with LOS remains to be determined, but the similarity in the susceptibilities of H. ducreyi and N. gonorrhoeae to PG-1 is not surprising.
In the radial diffusion assay, transformants of N. gonorrhoeae FA19 that have truncated oligosaccharide structures (FA5101, containing a trisaccharide consisting of two KDOs and heptose; WS1, consisting of two KDOs) are more susceptible to PG-1 than the parent. An isogenic LOS mutant, 35000HP-RSM2, which contains a pentasaccharide consisting of glucose, a heptose trisaccharide core, and KDO, was more susceptible to PG-1 than its parent in the radial diffusion assay but not in the killing assay. Thus, the LOSs of H. ducreyi and N. gonorrhoeae may influence the susceptibility of these organisms to antimicrobial peptides in a similar manner.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank Katina Lott, who contributed to this project while on rotation in the laboratory, Robert S. Munson, Jr., for supplying us with the isogenic LOS mutant, and Barry Katz for his assistance with the statistics. We also thank Margaret Bauer and Byron Batteiger for their helpful criticism of the manuscript.
This work was supported by Public Health Service grants AI27863, AI31494, AI-37945, and AI-22839 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 435 Emerson Hall, 545 Barnhill Dr., Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5124. Phone: (317) 274-8113. Fax: (317) 274-1587. E-mail: sspinola{at}iupui.edu.
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