Abstract
Peptide arrays on cellulose are a powerful tool to investigate peptide interactions with a number of different molecules, for examples antibodies, receptors or enzymes. Such peptide arrays can also be used to study interactions with whole cells. In this review, we focus on the interaction of small antimicrobial peptides with bacteria. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can kill multidrug-resistant (MDR) human pathogenic bacteria and therefore could be next generation antibiotics targeting MDR bacteria. We describe the screen and the result of different optimization strategies of peptides cleaved from the membrane. In addition, screening of antibacterial activity of peptides that are tethered to the surface is discussed. Surface-active peptides can be used to protect surfaces from bacterial infections, for example implants.
Highlights
Alexander Fleming already said: “It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them, and the same thing has occasionally happened in the body
There is the danger that the ignorant man may underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.”
Antibiotics are misused in a metric ton scale in animal farming, for example treating piglets to get fatter faster and less ill under the terrible condition they are kept in mass farming
Summary
Since their introduction in the 1930’s, antibiotics have been heralded as the wonder discovery of the twentieth century; in the 75 years since their initial introduction (Davies and Davies, 2010), the foundations surrounding the way physicians and health care practitioners care for patients has shifted from a focus on diagnostics, toward a more treatment focused approach that has saved millions of lives worldwide (Spellberg et al, 2011). The (O’Neill, 2016) commissioned by the former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, estimates that as of 2014, 700,000 people die annually from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) bacterial infections, costing the US health care system alone, $20 billion (O’Neill, 2016) Even more worryingly, these numbers are set to rise, with an estimated 10 million people predicted to succumb to AMRs by 2050 at an increasing global cost of $100 trillion. While the trends of AMR are difficult to predict, it is estimated that the death toll could be as high as one person every 3 s if this issue is not immediately addressed (O’Neill, 2016) While these statistics are frightening, this fate could be avoided by implementing certain interventions including: global. It is critical that pharmaceutical companies are provided an incentive to revitalize interest in antibiotic development
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