Recent Advances in the Development of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs): Attempts for Sustainable Medicine?

Title:Recent Advances in the Development of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs): Attempts for Sustainable Medicine?

Volume: 25 Issue: 21

Author(s): Anne Kokel and Marianna Torok*

Affiliation:

• Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125,United States

Keywords: Antimicrobial peptides, drug design, green technologies, green and sustainable medicinal chemistry, nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes, structural modifications, peptidomimetic, organofluorine.

Abstract: Background: Since the first isolation of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) they have attracted extensive interest in medicinal chemistry. However, only a few AMP-based drugs are currently available on the market. Despite their effectiveness, biodegradability, and versatile mode of action that is less likely to induce resistance compared to conventional antibiotics, AMPs suffer from major issues that need to be addressed to broaden their use. Notably, AMPs can lack selectivity leading to side effects and cytotoxicity, and also exhibit in vivo instability. Several strategies are being actively considered to overcome the limitations that restrain the success of AMPs.

Methods: In the current work, recent strategies reported for improving AMPs in the context of drug design and delivery were surveyed, and also their possible impact on patients and the environment was assessed.

Results: As a major advantage AMPs possess an easily tunable skeleton offering opportunities to improve their properties. Strategic structural modifications and the beneficial properties of cyclic or branched AMPs in term of stability have been reported. The conjugation of AMPs with nanoparticles has also been explored to increase their in vivo stability. Other techniques such as the coupling of AMPs with specific antibodies aim to increase the selectivity of the potential drug towards the target. These strategies were evaluated for their effect on the environment highlighting green technologies.

Conclusion: Although further research is needed taking into account both environmental and human health consequences of novel AMPs, several of these compounds are promising drug candidates for use in sustainable medicine.

Cite this article as:

Kokel Anne and Torok Marianna*, Recent Advances in the Development of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs): Attempts for Sustainable Medicine?, Current Medicinal Chemistry 2018; 25 (21) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/0929867325666180117142142