Evaluation of Designed Antimicrobial Peptides as Novel Mycobacterium abscessus Therapeutics

Mycobacterium abscessus (Mabs) is a multidrug-resistant nontuberculous mycobacterium capable of causing persistent pulmonary infection. It most prominently threatens those with cystic fibrosis (CF), a progressive and genetic disorder characterized by an immunocompromised respiratory tract. Current treatments fail to eradicate Mabs, meaning novel alternatives are greatly needed. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short sequences of amino acids that display broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and play an important role in innate immunity. To maximize their therapeutic potential, key AMP features can be rationally combined through an iterative engineering process to create synthetic, designed AMPs (dAMPs). In this investigation, two dAMPs, RP554 and RP557, reduced Mabs ATCC 19977 viability by 99.99% and were subjected to further testing. In antimicrobial susceptibility testing with Mabs ATCC 19977, RP554 and RP557 demonstrated bactericidal activity at concentrations 16-32 μM. Complete killing of Mabs ATCC 19977 by RP554 and RP557 occurred rapidly in <24 h. RP554 and RP557 also inhibited 20 Mabs clinical isolates obtained from CF patients. Furthermore, RP554 and RP557 retained anti-Mabs activity after pre-exposure to human serum, indicating potential stability in blood. Conversely, the tested dAMPs did not kill Mabs during in vitro experiments in an artificial sputum medium. Novel antimicrobials, such as the RP554 and RP557 dAMPs, offer therapeutic potential for otherwise resistant bacterial pathogens, including Mabs, that afflict both CF and non-CF patients.