An Update on Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) and Their Delivery Strategies for Wound Infections

Abstract

Bacterial infections occur when wound healing fails to reach the final stage of healing, usually hindered by the presence of different pathogens. Different topical antimicrobial agents are used to inhibit bacterial growth due to antibiotic failure in reaching the infected site accompanied very often by an increased drug resistance and other side effects. In this review, we focus on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), especially those with a high potential of efficacy against multidrug-resistant and biofilm-forming bacteria and fungi present in wound infections. Currently, different AMPs undergo preclinical and clinical phase to combat infection-related diseases. AMP dendrimers (AMPDs) have been mentioned as potent microbial agents. Various AMP delivery strategies, such as polymers, scaffolds, films and wound dressings, organic and inorganic nanoparticles, to combat infection and modulate the healing rate have been discussed as well. New technologies such as CRISPR-Cas are taken into consideration as potential future tools for AMP delivery in skin therapy.

Fabrication of an Antimicrobial Peptide-Loaded Silk Fibroin/Gelatin Bilayer Sponge to Apply as a Wound Dressing; An In Vitro Study

“…The lengthen biodegradation rate of the SF/Gel scaffold simplifies the novel tissue establishment and controlled release of drugs (Choy et al 2019). Further, the addition of AMP into the scaffold leads both the water swelling and the weight loss to slightly increase compared with neat SF/Gel blend scaffold (Patrulea et al 2020). Since AMP molecules are good water soluble, hence, they are highly diffuse into buffer solution resulting in the slightly higher weight loss of the scaffolds.…”

Peptidomic Analysis of Skin Secretions of the Caribbean Frogs Leptodactylus insularum and Leptodactylus nesiotus (Leptodactylidae) Identifies an Ocellatin with Broad Spectrum Antimicrobial Activity

“…Similarly, the cationicity, hydrophobicity, and amphipathicity of HDPs may be selectively manipulated to increase their antimicrobial potency, while simultaneously reducing their cytotoxicity to mammalian cells [ 41 ]. Moreover, the use of suitable carriers and optimized delivery systems, such as inorganic materials, polymers, and self-assembly lipid-based and nanomaterial-based structures, has been reported for both the systemic and local application of AMPs (reviewed in [ 47 , 48 ]). Such approaches would be expected to increase AMP stability, controlled release, and reduced toxicity and simultaneously minimize the potential side effects and/or overcome undesired host immune responses, thus alleviating many of the challenges that AMPs face as therapeutic agents.…”

Efficacy and Safety of PL-5 (Peceleganan) Spray for Wound Infections

“…In the context of the worldwide threat from growing antimicrobial resistance, the biological activity of AMPs, particularly their ability to kill multidrug-resistant bacteria has drawn special attention 2,17. Powerful AMPs such as vancomycin, daptomycin, dalbavancin, oritavancin, and telavancin, have demonstrated their strong antibiotic efficacy against severe even fatal infections 18–21.…”