The effects of metal ions on the cytotoxicity and selectivity of a histidine-containing lytic peptide

Long Chen, Sijia Dong, Jun F. Liang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The histidine-containing peptide L5C (PAWRHAFHWAWHMLHKAA) is a histidine-rich lytic peptide. Interactions of some divalent metal ions with peptide L5C and their effects on the cell lysis activity of the peptide were studied. The presence of Cu2+ caused a secondary structure change (from random coil to α-helix) which resulted in the loss of cell lysis activity in peptide L5C. Binding of Zn2+ to peptide L5C also reduced the lytic activity of the peptide but Zn2+ did not affect the secondary structure of the peptides. Instead, Zn2+ induced peptide L5C aggregation. Unlike Zn2+ and Cu2+, Mg2+ had no significant effect on the activity of peptide L5C. Further experiments revealed that formed ion-peptide L5C complexes were sensitive to pH and dissociated in acidic solutions. Peptide L5C demonstrated improved pH-selectivity in the presence of trace amount of Zn2+. This property of histidine-containing lytic peptides can be used to improve their therapeutic effectiveness in the treatment of cancers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)239-244
Number of pages6
JournalInternational Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics
Volume19
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2013

Keywords

  • Cancer treatment
  • Histidine-rich
  • Metal ions
  • Peptide
  • pH-selectivity

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