Miguel Gama
Minho University, Portugal
Title: Delivery of antimicobial peptides to the lung using hyaluronic acid nanogels: in vitro and in vivo treatment of M. Tuberculosis infection
Biography
Biography: Miguel Gama
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB), a disease caused by the highly virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis, currently ranks as the second world’s deadliest infectious disease, right after HIV/AIDS. The most recent data provided by the World Health Organization reports that around 9 million people were diagnosed with TB in 2013, having 1.1 million of those died from the disease. Additionally, as a result of overuse and misuse of antibiotics, multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) strains are emerging at a rate of about 3.5% over recent years. Treatment for MDR-TB is based on the administration of pyrazinamide together with second-line drugs. In this case, treatment can last up to 24 months. Noteworthy, whereas first-line TB treatment generally costs around $22 per patient, MDR-TB treatment-associated costs can range from $4000 to $9000 per patient. Within the context of the above-mentioned drawbacks associated to current therapies and the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains, a new class of drugs – antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) – arises as promising candidates for treatment of infectious diseases and TB in particular, either for administration as a monotherapy or combined with other drugs. In this work, the encapsulation of a peptide derived from the human cathelicidin LL37 in a hyaluronic acid nanogel, and its use for the treatment of mycobacteriosis will be reported. Insight on mechanistic aspects of the action of the AMP, including the internalization pathways and intracellular fate/stability of the peptide, as well as the assessment of its therapeutic potential, including data on the treatment of M. Avium and M. Tuberculosis infected mice will be described.