Antimicrobial peptides - Advances in development of therapeutic applications

Abstract

The severe infection is becoming a significant health problem which threaten the lives of patients and the safety and economy of society. In the way of finding new strategy, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) - an important part of host defense family, emerged with tremendous potential. Up to date, huge numbers of AMPs has been investigated from both natural and synthetic sources showing not only the ability to kill microbial pathogens but also propose other benefits such as wound healing, anti-tumor, immune modulation. In this review, we describe the involvements of AMPs in biological systems and discuss the opportunity in developing AMPs for clinical applications. In the detail, their properties in antibacterial activity is followed by their application in some infection diseases and cancer. The key discussions are the approaches to improve biological activities of AMPs either by modifying chemical structure or incorporating into delivery systems. The new applications and perspectives for the future of AMPs would open the new era of their development.

Keywords: Anticancer agent; Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs); Antimicrobial resistance; Cosmetic ingredients; Infectious diseases; Medical devices; Peptide drugs.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

Distribution of AMPs by length of sequence according to the DRAMP Database. (A) The number of AMPs categorized by length of sequence, Percentage of AMPs in (B) human, (C) all source.

Fig. 2

Several structural aspects in antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).

Fig. 3

Examples of chemical strategy in generating non-canonical amino acids.

Fig. 4

Examples of cyclization systems. (A) Disulfide bonds and its mimics, (B) Lactam bridges, (C) All-hydrocarbon stapling systems.

Fig. 5

Some pseudo-peptide structures for development of antimicrobial agents.