Antimicrobial Peptides: A Promising Avenue for Human Healthcare

Abstract

Antimicrobial drugs resistant microbes have been observed worldwide and therefore alternative development of antimicrobial peptides has gained interest in human healthcare. Enormous progress has been made in the development of antimicrobial peptide during the last decade due to major advantages of AMPs such as broad-spectrum activity and low levels of induced resistance over the current antimicrobial agents. This review briefly provides various categories of AMP, their physicochemical properties and mechanism of action which governs their penetration into microbial cell. Further, the recent information on current status of antimicrobial peptide development, their applications and perspective in human healthcare are also described.

Ag-Based Synergistic Antimicrobial Composites. A Critical Review

“…Several studies are dedicated to study of diverse mechanism of antimicrobial action of various peptides [ 234 , 235 ] against pathogenic microorganisms and interaction with biofilm components [ 236 , 237 ]: host defense peptides (HDP) easily bind to negatively charged bacterial surface and cause membrane malfunction, enabling it to inhibit and disperse biofilms and cause very low levels of induced resistance [ 238 ]. Synthetic and semisynthetic, nature-inspired peptides show both biofilm inhibition and eradication activity against a broad range of pathogens, including resistant ones: many review papers summarize all the recent advances and application of AMPs [ 239 , 240 , 241 , 242 , 243 , 244 , 245 , 246 , 247 ]. Just to provide a few examples, bioconjugation of small AMP to PET has been found to be an effective strategy to fabricate “active” food packaging with intrinsic conservation function [ 248 ]; application of HA-binding peptides in dentistry has been reported to be a promising agent for inhibition of dental plaque growth [ 249 ]; polydopamine peptide coating of catheters shows excellent ability to inhibit catheter-associated urinary tract infection-relevant microbes (CAUITI) [ 250 ].…”

Engineered Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides (eCAPs) to Combat Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria

“…However, other antimicrobial mechanisms of AMPs have been demonstrated including bacterial cell penetration (e.g., proline-rich AMPs) and interference with vital intracellular processes [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. Further, new antimicrobial mechanisms have been demonstrated in the last decade, notably the LPS-transport protein D (LptD) targeted by the cyclic peptide murepavadin [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ].…”

Innovaciones en la terapia antimicrobiana

“…La estructura anfipática que comparten los AMP facilita sus interacciones y la inserción en la pared celular aniónica y las membranas fosfolipídicas de los microorganismos (22). Frecuentemente, la actividad de los AMPs resulta de la alteración de la integridad de la membrana celular; sin embargo, estos pueden actuar en diferentes dianas celulares incluyendo ADN (23), ARN (24) y otras proteínas (25), apareciendo como una alternativa prometedora a los antibióticos convencionales (26).…”

“…Estos pequeños péptidos son multifuncionales como efectores de la inmunidad innata sobre la piel y superficies mucosas (29). Han demostrado una actividad antimicrobiana directa contra diversas especies bacterianas, virus, hongos y parásitos (26). Los AMPs existen en una amplia gama de estructuras secundarias, tales como estructuras tipo α-hélices, β-hebras con uno o más puentes disulfuro, estructuras tipo bucle y láminas extendidas (30).…”