Ceragenins exhibit bactericidal properties that are independent of the ionic strength in the environment mimicking cystic fibrosis sputum

Karol Skłodowski; Łukasz Suprewicz; Sylwia Joanna Chmielewska-Deptuła; Szczepan Kaliniak; Sławomir Okła; Magdalena Zakrzewska; Łukasz Minarowski; Robert Mróz; Tamara Daniluk; Paul B Savage; Krzysztof Fiedoruk; Robert Bucki

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1290952

Ceragenins exhibit bactericidal properties that are independent of the ionic strength in the environment mimicking cystic fibrosis sputum

Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 17:14:1290952. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1290952. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland.
² Holy Cross Cancer Center, Kielce, Poland.
³ Institute of Health Science, Collegium Medicum, Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Kielce, Poland.
⁴ 2nd Department of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland.
⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States.

Abstract

The purpose of the work was to investigate the impact of sodium chloride (NaCl) on the antimicrobial efficacy of ceragenins (CSAs) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) against bacterial and fungal pathogens associated with cystic fibrosis (CF) lung infections. CF-associated bacterial (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Ochrobactrum spp., and Staphylococcus aureus), and fungal pathogens (Candida albicans, and Candida tropicalis) were used as target organisms for ceragenins (CSA-13 and CSA-131) and AMPs (LL-37 and omiganan). Susceptibility to the tested compounds was assessed using minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and bactericidal concentrations (MBCs), as well as by colony counting assays in CF sputum samples supplemented with various concentrations of NaCl. Our results demonstrated that ceragenins exhibit potent antimicrobial activity in CF sputum regardless of the NaCl concentration when compared to LL-37 and omiganan. Given the broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity of ceragenins in the microenvironments mimicking the airways of CF patients, ceragenins might be promising agents in managing CF disease.

Keywords: antimicrobial peptides; ceragenins; cystic fibrosis; sodium chloride; sputum scope statement.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Science Center, Poland, under grant: UMO-2018/30/M/NZ6/00502 and the Medical University of Bialystok (SUB/1/DN/22/001/1122), Poland.