Evolution of Antimicrobial Peptides to Self-Assembled Peptides for Biomaterial Applications

Pathogens

Alice P. McCloskey²  Brendan F. Gilmore²  Garry Laverty¹ 

[1] Biomaterials, Biofilm and Infection Control Research Group, School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, N. Ireland;

关键词: antimicrobial;    bacteria;    biofilm;    biomaterial;    infection;    peptide;    self-assembly;   

DOI  :  10.3390/pathogens3040791

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

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 the primary peptide sequence may be modified with natural and unnatural amino acids to produce an inherently antimicrobial hydrogel. Gelation may be tailored to occur in the presence of physiological and infective indicators (e.g. pH, enzymes) and therefore allow local, targeted antimicrobial therapy at the site of infection. Peptides demonstrate inherent biocompatibility, antimicrobial activity, biodegradability and numerous functional groups. They are therefore prime candidates for the production of polymeric molecules that have the potential to be conjugated to biomaterials with precision. Non-native chemistries and functional groups are easily incorporated into the peptide backbone allowing peptide hydrogels to be tailored to specific functional requirements. This article reviews an area of increasing interest, namely self-assembled peptides and their potential therapeutic applications as innovative hydrogels and biomaterials in the prevention of biofilm-related infection.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.