{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T19:05:48Z","timestamp":1787166348724,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":63,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]],"date-time":"2024-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722902400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]],"date-time":"2024-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722902400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100019280","name":"Corporaci\u00f3n Ecuatoriana para el Desarrollo de la Investigaci\u00f3n y la Academia","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["CEPRA XV-2021-10"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CEPRA XV-2021-10"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100019280","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100011749","name":"Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Ecuador","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["044-UIO-2023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["044-UIO-2023"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100011749","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Microbiol Spectr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and malaria are major parasitic diseases disproportionately affecting the underprivileged population in developing nations. Finding new, alternative anti-parasitic compounds to treat these diseases is crucial because of the limited number of options currently available, the side effects they cause, the need for long treatment courses, and the emergence of drug-resistant parasites. Anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) derived from amphibian skin secretions are small bioactive molecules capable of lysing the cell membrane of pathogens while having low toxicity against human cells. Here, we report the anti-parasitic activity of five AMPs derived from skin secretions of three Ecuadorian frogs: cruzioseptin-1, cruzioseptin-4 (CZS-4), and cruzioseptin-16 from\n                      <jats:italic>Cruziohyla calcarifer<\/jats:italic>\n                      ; dermaseptin-SP2 from\n                      <jats:italic>Agalychnis spurrelli<\/jats:italic>\n                      ; and pictuseptin-1 from\n                      <jats:italic>Boana picturata<\/jats:italic>\n                      . These five AMPs were chemically synthesized. Initially, the hemolytic activity of CZS-4 and its minimal inhibitory concentration against\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic>Staphylococcus aureus<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and\n                      <jats:italic>Candida albicans<\/jats:italic>\n                      were determined. Subsequently, the cytotoxicity of the synthetic AMPs against mammalian cells and their anti-parasitic activity against\n                      <jats:italic>Leishmania mexicana<\/jats:italic>\n                      promastigotes, erythrocytic stages of\n                      <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                      and mammalian stages of\n                      <jats:italic>Trypanosoma cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                      were evaluated\n                      <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n                      . The five AMPs displayed activity against the pathogens studied, with different levels of cytotoxicity against mammalian cells.\n                      <jats:italic>In silico<\/jats:italic>\n                      molecular docking analysis suggests this bioactivity may occur via pore formation in the plasma membrane, resulting in microbial lysis. CZS-4 displayed anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic activities with low cytotoxicity against mammalian cells. Further studies about this promising AMP are required to gain a better understanding of its activity.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:sec>\n                      <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                      <jats:p>\n                        Chagas disease, malaria, and leishmaniasis are major tropical diseases that cause extensive morbidity and mortality, for which available treatment options are unsatisfactory because of limited efficacy and side effects. Frog skin secretions contain molecules with anti-microbial properties known as anti-microbial peptides. We synthesized five peptides derived from the skin secretions of different species of tropical frogs and tested them against cultures of the causative agents of these three diseases, parasites known as\n                        <jats:italic>Trypanosoma cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                        ,\n                        <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic>\n                        , and\n                        <jats:italic>Leishmania mexicana<\/jats:italic>\n                        . All the different synthetic peptides studied showed activity against one of more of the parasites. Peptide cruzioseptin-4 is of special interest since it displayed intense activity against parasites while being innocuous against cultured mammalian cells, which indicates it does not simply hold general toxic properties; rather, its activity is specific against the parasites.\n                      <\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:sec>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/spectrum.03339-23","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,16]],"date-time":"2024-07-16T09:02:11Z","timestamp":1721120531000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Bioactivity of synthetic peptides from Ecuadorian frog skin secretions against\n                    <i>Leishmania mexicana<\/i>\n                    ,\n                    <i>Plasmodium falciparum<\/i>\n                    , and\n                    <i>Trypanosoma cruzi<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Carolina","family":"Proa\u00f1o-Bola\u00f1os","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecules Discovery Group, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Universidad Regional Amaz\u00f3nica Ikiam, Tena, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanna","family":"Mor\u00e1n-Marcillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecules Discovery Group, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Universidad Regional Amaz\u00f3nica Ikiam, Tena, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nina","family":"Espinosa de los Monteros-Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecules Discovery Group, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Universidad Regional Amaz\u00f3nica Ikiam, Tena, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sebasti\u00e1n","family":"Berm\u00fadez-Puga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecules Discovery Group, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Universidad Regional Amaz\u00f3nica Ikiam, Tena, Ecuador"},{"name":"Department of Biochemical-Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of S\u00e3o Paulo, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mateo A.","family":"Salazar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Investigaci\u00f3n en Citogen\u00e9tica y Biomol\u00e9culas de Anfibios (LICBA), Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n para la Salud en Am\u00e9rica Latina (CISeAL), Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador"},{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n para la Salud en Am\u00e9rica Latina, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Ecuador, Quito, 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Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Franklin","family":"Espinosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Microbiolog\u00eda, Colegio de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lorena","family":"Meneses","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Qu\u00edmica Computacional, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Patricio","family":"Rojas-Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Microbiolog\u00eda, Colegio de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0499-1262","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sonia","family":"Zapata Mena","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Microbiolog\u00eda, Colegio de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fabi\u00e1n E.","family":"S\u00e1enz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n para la Salud en Am\u00e9rica Latina, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miryan","family":"Rivera I.","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Investigaci\u00f3n en Citogen\u00e9tica y Biomol\u00e9culas de Anfibios (LICBA), Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n para la Salud en Am\u00e9rica Latina (CISeAL), Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica 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Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2019.00166"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(18)31204-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12936-017-1925-6"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules25225483"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drudis.2017.06.004"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.326.7404.1444"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_8_2","unstructured":"Chagas disease (also known as American Trypanosomiasis). 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