Subject of the research:“Construction of new-age medicines on basis of peptide antibiotics — molecular factors of innate immunity”
Leader of the research: the director of ESC T.V. Ovchinnikova.

At the moment medicine faces with a problem of pathogens’ resistance to antibiotics. Intensive rising of resistant bacterial infections makes search of new medicines be necessary. Research at the SEC IBCh are targeted to a complex structural and functional study of new natural peptide antibiotics, mechanisms of their functioning as molecular factors of inherent immunity, to development of production technologies of their recombinant and synthetic analogs, to preclinical tests and design on their base of new-age antibiotics.

Discovery of versatile biological functions of endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMP) shows that these natural antibiotics are perspective molecules for creation of new antibiotics and have ability to inactivate a wide spectrum of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, tunicary viruses. AMP as molecular factors of inherent immunity work as mediators of phagocytic, inflammatory and stress processes. In view of AMPs’ antibacterial and immunomodulatory activity presence, a lot of foreign pharmaceutical companies (in USA, Canada, France, the Netherlands, etc.) began creation of new antibiotics on their base. Successful clinical trials were passed by peptide antibiotics for treatments of sepsis, meningitis, pneumonia, gastric ulcer, candidiasis, mucositis, gingivitis, acne, impetigo and for healing of burns and wounds complicated with repeated infection.

Research at the ESC are aimed to discovery, purification, study of structure, biological characteristics and molecular mechanisms of natural peptide antibiotics’ action, development of methods of their production and to preclinical tests. Objects of research are bacterial, fungi, vegetable and animal AMPs, including those of bacteria Bаcillus licheniformis, fungi Emericellopsis salmocynnemata and Emericellopsis minima, lentil Lens culinaris, nereides Arenicola marina, jellyfish Aurelia aurita, sturgeon Acipencer guldenstadti, tortoise Emys orbicularis, toads Bufo bufo gargarisan, etc. Particularly, from coelomic cell of nereides Arenicola marina new peptides were extracted, which have high antibacterial activity in relation to gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and yeast fungi; they were named “arenicins”. Determined by us full primary structure of processed arenicins and genes of their predecessors lets come to the conclusion that we revealed new family peptides, which don’t belong to any known family of AMP. A new effective technology of a heterologous expression was created, strain-producers were engineered, new methods of extraction and purification of genetically engineered arenicins were developed. Few patents of Russian Federation were acquired for original structure of arenicins and their production methods. At the same time fundamental research on arenicins activities are being continued, so as detailed study of their biological activity mechanisms and preclinical tests with animal models. Discovery, structural and functional research of other groups of peptide antibiotics are being continued too. The matters being under the study are original and patentable. The final aim of project is creation of new effective medicines’ prototypes series on base natural peptide antibiotics and biotechnological platform for their production.

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Tatiana Ovchinnikova

Russia, Moscow, Ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10 — On the map