Cationic Antimicrobial Peptide LL-37 Is Effective against both Extra- and Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe increasing resistance of bacteria to conventional antibiotics and the challenges posed by intracellular bacteria, which may be responsible for chronic and recurrent infections, have driven the need for advanced antimicrobial drugs for effective elimination of both extra- and intracellular pathogens. The purpose of this study was to determine the killing efficacy of cationic antimicrobial peptide LL-37 compared to conventional antibiotics against extra- and intracellularStaphylococcus aureus. Bacterial killing assays and an infection model of osteoblasts andS. aureuswere studied to determine the bacterial killing efficacy of LL-37 and conventional antibiotics against extra- and intracellularS. aureus. We found that LL-37 was effective in killing extracellularS. aureusat nanomolar concentrations, while lactoferricin B was effective at micromolar concentrations and doxycycline and cefazolin at millimolar concentrations. LL-37 was surprisingly more effective in killing the clinical strain than in killing an ATCC strain ofS. aureus. Moreover, LL-37 was superior to conventional antibiotics in eliminating intracellularS. aureus. The kinetic studies further revealed that LL-37 was fast in eliminating both extra- and intracellularS. aureus. Therefore, LL-37 was shown to be very potent and prompt in eliminating both extra- and intracellularS. aureusand was more effective in killing extra- and intracellularS. aureusthan commonly used conventional antibiotics. LL-37 could potentially be used to treat chronic and recurrent infections due to its effectiveness in eliminating not only extracellular but also intracellular pathogens.