QUB-2592, a novel peptide discovered in Rana pipiens with potent antimicrobial and anticancer activities

Abstract

Due to the increasing incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have begun to engender interest as potential efficacious substitutes. In this study, a novel antimicrobial peptide, QUB-2592, was identified in the skin secretion of Rana pipiens using a ‘Shotgun’ cloning strategy. QUB-2592 showed potent antimicrobial activity and could kill S. aureus at 4 µM, E. coli at 8 µM and C. albicans at 16 µM. At bactericidal concentrations, QUB-2592 showed low haemolysis activity on horse red blood cells with a HC_50 value of 60.76 µM, which indicated the safety of the peptide. Meanwhile, QUB-2592 exhibited obvious anticancer activity on human non-small lung cancer cell line, H838, with a IC_50 value of 11.29 µM. The identification and functional study of QUB-2592 provided useful experience for later research on brevinin-1 type peptides. Also, QUB-2592 might be used as a promising agent to treat diseases induced by drug resistant pathogen infection and cancer.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2027.

Date of Award	Dec 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Mei Zhou (Supervisor), Tianbao Chen (Supervisor) & Tao Wang (Supervisor)