{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T14:49:43Z","timestamp":1781534983932,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,24]],"date-time":"2025-10-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761264000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Tuberculosis (TB) remains difficult to treat due to the need for prolonged multidrug therapy and the global rise of drug-resistant\n                    <jats:italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis<\/jats:italic>\n                    (\n                    <jats:italic>Mtb<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) strains. Endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as promising candidates for host-directed therapies. Given the pulmonary nature of TB, we hypothesized that human lung tissue contains peptides with intrinsic antimycobacterial activity. We screened a peptide library derived from human lung tissue and identified a 39-amino-acid C-terminal fragment of \u03b2-hemoglobin (HBB(112\u2013147)), referred to as RapTB, with potent activity against\n                    <jats:italic>Mtb<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Recombinant RapTB exhibited dose-dependent inhibition of extracellular\n                    <jats:italic>Mtb<\/jats:italic>\n                    , reaching ~60% activity at 50\u202f\u03bcM. Electron microscopy revealed mycobacterial cell wall disruption as a likely mechanism. RapTB was non-toxic to primary human macrophages and efficiently internalized by\n                    <jats:italic>Mtb<\/jats:italic>\n                    -infected cells. However, it did not co-localize with intracellular bacilli and failed to limit intracellular replication. HBB-derived fragments such as RapTB have previously been identified in human tissues and are known to exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Our findings extend this functional class to include antimycobacterial activity and suggest a potential role for RapTB in the early, extracellular phase of host defense against TB.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2025.1669022","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,24]],"date-time":"2025-10-24T05:28:25Z","timestamp":1761283705000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["RapTB: a lung-derived hemoglobin fragment with activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Leonard","family":"Klevesath","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Reiner","family":"Noschka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Vomhof","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jacky","family":"Mohnani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mark","family":"Grieshober","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jens","family":"Michaelis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Walther","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Armando","family":"Rodriguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nico","family":"Preising","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Clarissa","family":"Read","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sebastian","family":"Wiese","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ludger","family":"St\u00e4ndker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dietmar R.","family":"Thal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jan","family":"M\u00fcnch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Steffen","family":"Stenger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"960","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmaceutics14050960","article-title":"Liposome-encapsulated tobramycin and IDR-1018 peptide mediated biofilm disruption and enhanced antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa","volume":"14","author":"Alzahrani","year":"2022","journal-title":"Pharmaceutics"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejpb.2021.04.020","article-title":"Enhanced efficacy and drug delivery with lipid coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles in cancer therapy","volume":"165","author":"Amin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Eur. 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