Host-defence peptides to treat cancer and infectious diseases
Host-defence peptides are produced by our innate immune system and are expressed in response to fungal and bacterial infections and some have been shown to be able to kill tumour cells. We are interested in designing more selective and potent anticancer and antimicrobial drugs using host-defence peptides. This will be achieved by unravelling the mode-of-action and identifying the features responsible for the anticancer and antimicrobial properties of host-defence peptides. We are particularly interested in redesigning host-defence peptides to confer ability to selectively target breast cancer, blood tumours, metastatic circulating cells, or multi-resistant bacterial infections.
Relevant publications:
Lawrence, Nicole, Dennis, Adelaide S.M., Lehane, Adele M., Ehmann, Anna, Harvey, Peta J., Benfield, Aurélie H., Cheneval, Olivier, Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Craik, David J., & McMorran, Brendan J. (2018) Defense Peptides Engineered from Human Platelet Factor 4 Kill Plasmodium by Selective Membrane Disruption. Cell Chemical Biology, 25(9), 1140-1150.e5. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124528/)
Pérez-Peinado, Clara, Dias, Susana Almeida, Domingues, Marco M., Benfield, Aurélie H., Freire, João Miguel, Rádis-Baptista, Gandhi, Gaspar, Diana, Castanho, Miguel A. R. B., Craik, David J., Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Veiga, Ana Salomé, & Andreu, David (2017) Mechanisms of bacterial membrane permeabilization by crotalicidin (Ctn) and its fragment Ctn(15–34), antimicrobial peptides from rattlesnake venom. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 293(5), pp. 1536-1549. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124531/)
Dias, Susana A., Freire, João M., Pérez-Peinado, Clara, Domingues, Marco M., Gaspar, Diana, Vale, Nuno, Gomes, Paula, Andreu, David, Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Castanho, Miguel A. R. B., & Veiga, Ana S. (2017) New Potent Membrane-Targeting Antibacterial Peptides from Viral Capsid Proteins. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124520/)
Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Lawrence, Nicole, Chaousis, Stephanie, Ravipati, Anjaneya S., Cheneval, Olivier, Benfield, Aurélie H., Elliott, Alysha G., Kavanagh, Angela Maria, Cooper, Matthew A., Chan, Lai Yue, Huang, Yen-Hua, & Craik, David J. (2017) Redesigned Spider Peptide with Improved Antimicrobial and Anticancer Properties. ACS Chemical Biology, 12(9), pp. 2324-2334.(https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124525/)
Wang, Conan K., King, Gordon J., Conibear, Anne C., Ramos, Mariana C., Chaousis, Stephanie, Henriques, Sónia Troeira, & Craik, David J.(2016) Mirror Images of Antimicrobial Peptides Provide Reflections on Their Functions and Amyloidogenic Properties. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138(17), pp. 5706-5713. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124513/)
Gilding, Edward K., Jackson, Mark A., Poth, Aaron G., Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Prentis, Peter J., Mahatmanto, Tunjung, & Craik, David J.(2015) Gene coevolution and regulation lock cyclic plant defence peptides to their targets. New Phytologist, 210(2), pp. 717-730.(https://eprints.qut.edu.au/112341/)
Sani, Marc-Antoine, Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Weber, Daniel, & Separovic, Frances (2015) Bacteria May Cope Differently from Similar Membrane Damage Caused by the Australian Tree Frog Antimicrobial Peptide Maculatin 1.1. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 290(32), pp. 19853-19862. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124506/)
Henriques, Sónia T. & Craik, David J. (2015) Discovery of Peptide Drugs from Natural Sources. In Dunn, Ben (Ed.) Peptide Chemistry and Drug Design. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, pp. 203-245. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127116/)
Conibear, Anne C., Rosengren, K. Johan, Daly, Norelle L., Henriques, Sónia Troeira, & Craik, David J. (2013) The Cyclic Cystine Ladder in θ-Defensins Is Important for Structure and Stability, but Not Antibacterial Activity. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 288(15), pp. 10830-10840. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124495/)
Torcato, Inês M., Huang, Yen-Hua, Franquelim, Henri G., Gaspar, Diana, Craik, David J., Castanho, Miguel A.R.B., & Henriques, Sónia Troeira(2013) Design and characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides, R-BP100 and RW-BP100, with activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Biomembranes, 1828(3), pp. 944-955.(https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124497/)
Kaas, Q., Westermann, J. C., Henriques, S. T., & Craik, D. J. (2010) Antimicrobial peptides in plants. In Wang, Guangshun (Ed.) Antimicrobial peptides: discovery, design and novel therapeutic strategies. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK, pp. 40-71.(https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127118/)
Henriques, Sónia Troeira, Tan, Chia Chia, Craik, David J., & Clark, Richard J. (2010) Structural and Functional Analysis of Human Liver-Expressed Antimicrobial Peptide 2. ChemBioChem, 11(15), pp. 2148-2157. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124486/)