%0 Journal Article
%T Antimalarial activity of cecropin antimicrobial peptides derived from Anopheles mosquitoes.
%A Lou J
%A Zhang D
%A Wu J
%A Zhu G
%A Zhang M
%A Tang J
%A Fang Y
%A He X
%A Cao J
%J Antimicrob Agents Chemother
%V 68
%N 7
%D 2024 Jul 9
%M 38874346
%F 5.938
%R 10.1128/aac.00311-24
%X The emergence of clinically drug-resistant malaria parasites requires the urgent development of new drugs. Mosquitoes are vectors of multiple pathogens and have developed resistance mechanisms against them, which often involve antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). An-cecB is an AMP of the malaria-transmitting mosquito genus Anopheles, and we herein report its antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum 3D7, the artemisinin-resistant strain 803, and the chloroquine-resistant strain Dd2 in vitro. We also demonstrate its anti-parasite activity in vivo, using the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei (ANKA). We show that An-cecB displays potent antimalarial activity and that its mechanism of action may occur through direct killing of the parasite or through interaction with infected red blood cell membranes. Unfortunately, An-cecB was found to be cytotoxic to mammalian cells and had poor antimalarial activity in vivo. However, its truncated peptide An-cecB-1 retained most of its antimalarial activity and avoided its cytotoxicity in vitro. An-cecB-1 also showed better antimalarial activity in vivo. Mosquito-derived AMPs may provide new ideas for the development of antimalarial drugs against drug-resistant parasites, and An-cecB has potential use as a template for antimalarial peptides.