Concerns in the Design and Development of Novel Antimicrobial Peptides

Abstract

Peptide and protein based therapeutics are the most promising approaches in today medicine. Bioactive peptides can be valuable drugs in the treatment of various illnesses, such as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Cell toxic peptides can be considered for cancer or infection therapy. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are one of the most interesting antibiotic groups in this regard, especially in drug resistance infections. Numerous AMPs have been discovered from the natural source; however, artificial synthetic ones have been also developed based on rational design or bioinformatics modeling. Physicochemical features of AMPs are highly important in their antibacterial activity as well as their toxicity. The best AMP is the one that has selective potent antimicrobial bioactivity and no or least hemolytic and cytotoxic effect. In this review, various structural factors affecting the AMPs bioactivity, such as AMPs size, charge, amphipathicity, and amino acid sequence are illustrated considering the most recently published articles. Finally, the trends in AMP design and development are discussed. HIGHLIGHTS•Antimicrobial peptides are highly interesting antibiotics in multi-drug resistance infections.•Antimicrobial peptides are short peptides with less than 50 amino acids and overall positive charge.•First and second structural features of AMPs are important factors in their bioactivities.•Cyclization and branching of AMPs could affect their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics.