Synthetic polymers active against Clostridium diff... - LL-37 Study

Key Findings

Nylon‑3 polymers block C. difficile vegetative cell growth and spore outgrowth

Their effectiveness matches the natural peptide LL‑37 and works on multiple C. difficile strains

The most effective polymer causes less damage to red blood cells than LL‑37

Practical Outcomes

For now there’s no direct way to use these polymers at home, but the study shows that synthetic mimics of LL‑37 could become safer, more stable anti‑C. diff drugs in the future. Biohackers should watch for later developments rather than change any current health routines.

Summary

Scientists created easy‑to‑make synthetic polymers that act like the human peptide LL‑37 and can stop the harmful gut bug C. difficile from growing and from turning spores into active bacteria. These polymers worked as well as LL‑37 and better than some antibiotics, and they were gentler on blood cells.

Abstract

Nylon-3 polymers (poly-β-peptides) have been investigated as synthetic mimics of host-defense peptides in recent years. These polymers are attractive because they are much easier to synthesize than are the peptides themselves, and the polymers resist proteolysis. Here we describe in vitro analysis of selected nylon-3 copolymers against Clostridium difficile, an important nosocomial pathogen that causes highly infectious diarrheal disease. The best polymers match the human host-defense peptide LL-37 in blocking vegetative cell growth and inhibiting spore outgrowth. The polymers and LL-37 were effective against both the epidemic 027 ribotype and the 012 ribotype. In contrast, neither vancomycin nor nisin inhibited outgrowth for the 012 ribotype. The best polymer was less hemolytic than LL-37. Overall, these findings suggest that nylon-3 copolymers may be useful for combatting C. difficle.

Study Information

Provider

pubmed

Year

2014

Date

2014-10-03T00:00:00.000Z

DOI

10.1021/ja506798e

Citations

References