naturally-occurring antimicrobial peptides provide a valuable tool for studying the role of different structural features in the activity of those peptides. A large array of derivatives based upon these structural models has been synthesized and studied in an attempt to increase the potency and selectivity of the native antimicrobial peptides. Enhancing the antimicrobial potency is often accomp...

To survive during colonization or infection of the human body, microorganisms must circumvent mechanisms of innate host defense. Antimicrobial peptides represent a key component of innate host defense, especially in phagocytes and on epithelial surfaces. However, it is not known how the clinically important group of Gram-positive bacteria sense antimicrobial peptides to coordinate a directed de...

The antimicrobial peptide KLKLLLLLKLK-NH2 was developed based on sapesin B, and synthesized using D-amino acids. Biochemical properties of the D-form and L-form KLKLLLLLKLK-NH2 peptides were compared. In order to limit the effects due to bacterial resistance to proteolysis, antimicrobial activities of the peptides were evaluated after short-term exposure to bacteria. D-form KLKLLLLLKLK-NH2 exhi...

We investigated the mechanism by which cationic antimicrobial peptides block the activation of macrophages by LPS. The initial step in LPS signaling is the transfer of LPS to CD14 by LPS binding protein (LBP). Because many cationic antimicrobial peptides bind LPS, we asked whether these peptides block the binding of LPS to LBP. Using an assay that measures the binding of LPS to immobilized LBP,...

Extensive use of classical antibiotics has led to the growing emergence of many resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. Evidence has suggested that cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are of greatest potential to represent a new class of antibiotics. The largest group of AMPs comprises peptides that fold into an amphipathic alpha-helical conformation when interacting with the target microo...

The production of antimicrobial peptides and proteins is essential for defense against infection. Many of the known human antimicrobial peptides are multifunctional, with stimulatory activities such as chemotaxis while simultaneously acting as natural antibiotics. In humans, eccrine appendages express DCD and CAMP, genes encoding proteins processed into the antimicrobial peptides dermcidin and ...

We used a template-assisted approach to develop synthetic antimicrobial peptides, which differ from naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides that can compromise host natural defenses. Previous researches have demonstrated that symmetrical distribution patterns of amino acids contribute to the antimicrobial activity of natural peptides. However, there is little research describing such design ...

The porcine cathelicidin PR-39 is a host defence peptide that plays a pivotal role in the innate immune defence of the pig against infections. Besides direct antimicrobial activity, it is involved in immunomodulation, wound healing and several other biological processes. In this study, the antimicrobial- and immunomodulatory activity of PR-39, and N- and C-terminal derivatives of PR-39 were tes...

Biomaterial-related infections are a persistent burden on patient health, recovery, mortality and healthcare budgets. Self-assembled antimicrobial peptides have evolved from the area of antimicrobial peptides. Peptides serve as important weapons in nature, and increasingly medicine, for combating microbial infection and biofilms. Self-assembled peptides harness a "bottom-up" approach, whereby t...

Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides are the main components of the plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. However, Aβ peptides are also detectable in secretory compartments and peripheral blood contains a complex mixture of more than 40 different modified and/or N- and C-terminally truncated Aβ peptides. Recently, anti-infective properties of Aβ peptides have been reported. Here,...