Abstract
Microbial resistance to conventional antibiotics is one of the most outstanding medical and scientific challenges of our times. Despite the recognised need for new anti-infective agents, however, very few new drugs have been brought to the market and to the clinic in the last three decades. This review highlights the properties of a new class of antibiotics, namely dendrimeric peptides. These intriguing novel compounds, generally made of multiple peptidic sequences linked to an inner branched core, display an array of antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal activities, usually coupled to low haemolytic activity. In addition, several peptides synthesized in oligobranched form proved to be promising tools for the selective treatment of cancer cells.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance is an alarming threat to public health at the global level
Artemisinin resistance in malaria is spreading, and increasing levels of transmitted anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug resistance have been detected among patients starting antiretroviral treatment [5]
antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have good potential to be a viable alternative to conventional antibiotics, thanks for example to their tendency to rarely elicit antimicrobial resistance, they are not devoid of drawbacks
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance is an alarming threat to public health at the global level. Current estimates of the associated burden vary greatly depending on the method of data collation and analysis [1], but a recent report commissioned by the United Kingdom government estimated that, by 2050, 10 million people will die every year due to antimicrobial resistance unless appropriate countermeasures are taken [2]. A range of infectious microbial pathogens are already resistant to most classes of clinically usable antibiotics, strongly reducing the choices of alternative treatments, that sometimes are non-existent [3,4]. Increasing rates of multi-drug resistance in bacterial strains that cause common infections associated with healthcare settings and/or community-acquired have been reported worldwide. “A post-antibiotic era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century”, commented a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report on antimicrobial resistance [5]. In addition to the need to preserve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics through a wiser use of their properties, the scarcity of new antimicrobial agents on the horizon to replace those that have become ineffective calls for the urgent quest for new anti-infective substances to be developed and deployed in the clinic
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