Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is projected as one of the greatest threats to human health in the future and hence alternatives are being explored to combat resistance. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have shown great promise, because use of AMPs leads bacteria to develop no or low resistance. In this review, we discuss the diversity, history and the various mechanisms of action of AMPs. Although many AMPs have reached clinical trials, to date not many have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to issues with toxicity, protease cleavage and short half-life. Some of the recent strategies developed to improve the activity and biocompatibility of AMPs, such as chemical modifications and the use of delivery systems, are also reviewed in this article.
Keywords
Antimicrobial peptidesAntimicrobialBiocompatibilityDrug deliveryHuman healthPharmacologyChemistryMedicineBiologyNanotechnologyMicrobiologyMaterials science
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
Antimicrobial Peptides: Classification, Design, Application and Research Progress in Multiple Fields
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of small peptides that widely exist in nature and they are an important part of the innate immune system of different organisms. AMPs h...
Primary structures of three human neutrophil defensins.
The primary structures of three human neutrophil antimicrobial peptides (HNP) were determined. The peptides, HNP-1, HNP-2, and HNP-3, which we have termed defensins, were rich i...
How Structural Features Influence the Biomembrane Permeability of Peptides
Successful drug development requires not only optimization of specific and potent pharmacological activity at the target site, but also efficient delivery to that site. Many pro...
Hydrolysis of Biological Peptides by Human Angiotensin-converting Enzyme-related Carboxypeptidase
Human angiotensin-converting enzyme-related carboxypeptidase (ACE2) is a zinc metalloprotease whose closest homolog is angiotensin I-converting enzyme. To begin to elucidate the...
The influence of endosome-disruptive peptides on gene transfer using synthetic virus-like gene transfer systems.
The process by which viruses destabilize endosomal membranes in an acidification-dependent manner has been mimicked with synthetic peptides that are able to disrupt liposomes, e...
Publication Info
- Year
- 2018
- Type
- review
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 4-4
- Citations
- 1126
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
1126
OpenAlex
Cite This
Prashant Kumar,
Jayachandran N. Kizhakkedathu,
Suzana K. Straus
(2018).
Antimicrobial Peptides: Diversity, Mechanism of Action and Strategies to Improve the Activity and Biocompatibility In Vivo.
Biomolecules
, 8
(1)
, 4-4.
https://doi.org/10.3390/biom8010004
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.3390/biom8010004