Background. Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients must deal with pulmonary bacterial infections by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. A weapon that could be used against pulmonary infections are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), natural molecules with antibiotic activity. The BMAP18 peptide has a potent antibacterial in vitro activity, however it could not protect mice with P. aeruginosa infection and showed quite toxic side effects.
Hypothesis & Objectives. Because of these problems which are common to many others AMPs, BMAP18 could not be directly used in clinic. Our aim was to investigate the reasons of toxicity and scarce activity of BMAP18 in mice model of infection to optimize the molecule for its usage in the particular lung environment of CF patients. Tobramycin and colistin antibiotics have been used for comparison.