reviewFrontiers in Cellular and Infection MicrobiologyDec 27, 2016GOLD OA

Antimicrobial Peptides: An Emerging Category of Therapeutic Agents

MMMargit MahlapuuJHJoakim HåkanssonLRLovisa RingstadCBCamilla Björn

Karolinska Institutet · University of Gothenburg · +2 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefdoajpubmed

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also known as host defense peptides, are short and generally positively charged peptides found in a wide variety of life forms from microorganisms to humans. Most AMPs have the ability to kill microbial pathogens directly, whereas others act indirectly by modulating the host defense systems. Against a background of rapidly increasing resistance development to conventional antibiotics all over the world, efforts to bring AMPs into clinical use are accelerating. Several AMPs are currently being evaluated in clinical trials as novel anti-infectives, but also as new pharmacological agents to modulate the immune response, promote wound healing, and prevent post-surgical adhesions. In…

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Antimicrobial peptides
  • Antimicrobial
  • Antibiotics
  • Biology
  • Immune system
  • Mode of action
  • Medicine
  • Computational biology
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