Description:
Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) are essential components of the innate immune response of multicellular eukaryotes. They are small cationic peptides characterized by an unusual abundance of hydrophobic and positively charged amino acids. The net positive charge causes their adsorption at the surface of bacterial membranes that are very rich in negative anionic lipids, causing alterations of the membrane, eventually leading to cell death. On the contrary, CAMPs cannot efficiently be absorbed at the surface of eukaryotic membranes given that their anionic phospholipids are localized in the inner leaflet. Thus, these features likely explain the selectivity of CAMPs towards bacterial cells, and have attracted much attention to their use as alternative antibiotics. In addition, CAMPs often possess additional biological activities like immunomodulation, inhibition of lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation, etc. The aim of this research line is to analyze structural propensity, antimicrobial activity, cytotoxic effects on eukaryotic cells and anti-inflammatory properties of fragments derived from several proteins, with functions not necessarily related to host defense.