Antimicrobial cyclic peptides effectively inhibit multiple forms of Borrelia and cross the blood-brain barrier model Evelína Mochnáčová, Katarína Bhide, Katarína Kucková, Jana Jozefiaková, Tomáš Maľarik & Mangesh Bhide

Basic data
OCA1. Surname awarded to the assessed person	Bhide
OCA2. Name awarded to the assessed person	Mangesh Ramesh
OCA3. Degrees awarded to the assessed person	prof. MVSc., PhD
OCA4. Hyperlink to the entry of the person in the Register of university staff	https://www.portalvs.sk/regzam/detail/6102
OCA5. Area of assessment	study programme microbiology and immunology · III. degree
OCA6. Category of the research/artistic/other output	scientific output
OCA7. Year of publication of the research/artistic/other output	2025
OCA8. ID of the record in the Central Registry of Publication Activity (CRPA) or the Central Registry of Artistic Activity (CRAA)	ID =6147
OCA9. Hyperlink to the record in CRPA or CRAA	https://app.crepc.sk/?fn=detailBiblioFormChildG2ACM2&sid=2898A0C014A2DECFD597CA229F61&seo=CREPČ-detail-Článok
Characteristics of the output that is not registered in CRPA or CRAA
OCA10. Hyperlink to the record in another publicly accessible register, catalogue of research/ artistic/other outputs	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-90605-z
OCA11. Characteristics of the output in the format of the CRPA or the CRAA bibliographic record, if the output is not available in a publicly accessible register or catalogue of outputs	Antimicrobial cyclic peptides effectively inhibit multiple forms of Borrelia and cross the blood-brain barrier model Evelína Mochnáčová, Katarína Bhide, Katarína Kucková, Jana Jozefiaková, Tomáš Maľarik & Mangesh Bhide
OCA12. Type of the output (if the output is not registered in CRPA or CRAA)	article
OCA13. Hyperlink to the webpage where the output is available (full text, other documentation, etc.)	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-90605-z
OCA14. Characteristics of the author's contribution	The author is the bearer of ideas and the main researcher of all research in the field
OCA15. Annotation of the output with contextual information concerning the description of creative process and the content of the research/artistic/other activity, etc.
Other data
OCA16. Annotation of the output in English	Infection caused by neuroinvasive Borrelia often manifests long-term CNS disorders and is difficult to treat as most antibiotics fail to attain an effective concentration within the brain or cannot kill the persister forms of Borrelia (cysts and round bodies). Thus, this study focused on developing antimicrobial cyclic peptides (AMPs) from a combinatorial phage display library that target phosphatidylcholine of the borrelial cell membrane. Isolated cyclic peptides with anti-Borrelia properties were then fused with the CNS homing peptide developed in this study (designated as O-BBB) to facilitate AMP transport across the blood-brain barrier. Among all O-BBB fused AMPs, Bor-18 had half maximal effective concentration (EC50) 0.83 µM when tested against spirochetal Borrelia. Bor-16, Bor-18, and Bor-26 inhibited the cystic form with EC50 0.83 µM, while Bor-11 had EC50 0.41 µM. Within an hour, all four peptides caused a permeability breach in the borrelial cell membrane, causing depolarization of the membrane. Bor peptides did not inhibit eukaryotic cell metabolism or proliferation, nor did they cause erythrocyte lysis. Peptides were stable in serum, could cross the BBB in-vitro, and remained effective against Borrelia. Cyclic AMPs fused with a CNS homing moiety, the Bor peptides, deserve further investigation for their potential use in neuroborreliosis therapy
OCA17. List of maximum 5 most significant citations corresponding to the output
OCA18. Characteristics of the output's impact on socio-economic practice	Isolated cyclic peptides associated with the CNS homing group, Bor peptides, deserve further investigation for their potential use in the treatment of neuroborreliosis.
OCA19. Characteristics of the output and related activities' impact on the educational process	Study and understanding of new technologies for the production of nanobodies.