1.D.133. The Temporizin (TPZ) Family
Temporizin is an artificial, hybrid peptide containing the N-terminal region of temporin A, the pore-forming region of gramicidin and a C-terminus consisting of alternating leucine and lysine. Temporizin-1 is a modification of temporizin with a reduction in the region responsible for insertion into membranes. They permeabilize cells and artificial membranes (Souza et al. 2016). Both temporizin and temporizin-1 are toxic against T. cruzi with temporizin displaying slightly more potency. At concentrations up to 100 μg/ ml, both peptides exhibited low toxicity in J774 cells, a macrophage lineage cell line, and no toxicity was observed in mouse primary peritoneal macrophages. In contrast, the peptides showed some toxicity in rat adenoma GH3 cells and Jurkat human lymphoma cells with temporizin-1 displaying lower toxicity. Thus, a shortened form of the hybrid temporizin peptide, temporizin-1, is efficient at killing T. cruzi, has low toxicity in wild-type mammalian cells and is a candidate for Chagas disease therapy (Souza et al. 2016).