New paper! Host Defense Peptides: Dual Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Action

New paper! Host Defense Peptides: Dual Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Action

The rapid rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has once again caused bacterial infections to become a global health concern. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also known as host defense peptides (HDPs), offer a viable solution to these pathogens due to their diverse mechanisms of actions, which include direct killing as well as immunomodulatory properties (e.g., anti-inflammatory activity). HDPs may hence provide a more robust treatment of bacterial infections. In this review, the advent of and the mechanisms that lead to antibiotic resistance are described. HDP mechanisms of antibacterial and immunomodulatory action are presented, with specific examples of how the HDP aurein 2.2 and a few of its derivatives, namely peptide 73 and cG4L73, function. Finally, resistance that may arise from a broader use of HDPs in a clinical setting and methods to improve biocompatibility are briefly discussed.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222011172

Congratulations to Tanja Schneider research group, co-authors and collaboration partners!