{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T02:57:09Z","timestamp":1787021829852,"version":"build-2736575974"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0013975","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773273600000}}],"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772668800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001807","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado de S\u00e3o Paulo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2021\/12938-0"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021\/12938-0"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001807","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["307487\/2021-0"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["307487\/2021-0"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paolo","award":["2022\/16258-6"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022\/16258-6"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001807","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado de S\u00e3o Paulo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2023\/08572-5"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023\/08572-5"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001807","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100021828","name":"German Academic Exchange Service","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["57592717-GLACIER"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["57592717-GLACIER"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100021828","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Chagas disease is a neglected disease caused by\n                    <jats:italic>Trypanosoma cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    , which affects 6\u20137 million people worldwide. More than one hundred years after its description, the performance of available drugs for treating the\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    infection remains largely unsatisfactory. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are new alternatives that may have potential as trypanocides. Herein, we assessed Cm-p5, a synthetic peptide with previously shown antimicrobial activity, and 10 derivatives. After screening assays using epimastigote forms of the parasite to test their potential as proliferation inhibitors, Cm-p5 was selected. Cm-p5 showed an EC\n                    <jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub>\n                    against\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    of 16.9\u2009\u00b1\u20091.2 \u03bcM and a cytotoxicity towards CHO-K\n                    <jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub>\n                    mammalian cells (CC\n                    <jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub>\n                    ) of 124.8\u2009\u00b1\u20090.1 \u00b5M. After further investigation, it was evidenced that part of the epimastigote population underwent necrosis-like cell death, while those that remained alive showed a cell-cycle arrest at the phases G2_M and S_G2. When infected cells were treated, the peptide diminished the release of the infective trypomastigote form, with an EC\n                    <jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub>\n                    of 25.2\u2009\u00b1\u20091.4 \u00b5M. Furthermore, Cm-p5 inhibited the number of intracellular amastigotes as well as the number of infected cells by 64.3 and 75%, respectively. Taken together, these numbers resulted in a reduction of the infection index by 91.1%. Additionally, we showed that Cm-p5 trypanocidal activity against intracellular amastigotes was attributable to cell membrane damage and cell cycle partial arrest, as described for epimastigotes. Our data suggest that Cm-p5 may be a promising template to design new peptides for the treatment of Chagas disease.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0013975","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T18:41:56Z","timestamp":1772736116000},"page":"e0013975","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Cm-p5, a synthetic antimicrobial peptide shows anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Ana C.","family":"Mengarda","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fidel E.","family":"Morales-Vicente","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ernesto 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