Title:The Application of Cell-Penetrating-Peptides in Antibacterial Agents
Volume: 28
Issue: 29
Author(s): Hangfei Chen, Dheerendranath Battalapalli, Mohamed S. Draz, Pengfei Zhang*Zhi Ruan*
Affiliation:
- Department of Central Laboratory, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai,China
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou,China
Keywords:
Cell-penetrating peptides, antimicrobial agents, multidrug resistance, delivery system, design, prediction.
Abstract: Multidrug resistance in bacteria is a major threat to global health and the effective
prevention and treatment of infections. The urgent need for novel antimicrobial
agents, together with the increasing challenges in discovering and developing effective
antibiotics, has inspired new approaches and strategies to circumvent antibiotic resistance.
Despite this effort, the difficulty in cell-penetration and delivery of antibiotics into
bacterial cells remains the bottleneck for both traditional and non-traditional antibacterial
agents to realize their full potential. Recently, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have attracted
considerable attention as low-toxicity carriers, promising the improvement of the
low biological activity of traditional antimicrobial agents. CPPs are now extensively used
to deliver various antibiotics, including recently developed agents, such as antisense oligonucleotides
(ASOs). The conjugation of CPPs to antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can also
greatly enhance antibacterial activity and may present an effective approach for developing
novel antimicrobial agents. This review discusses the characteristics, designing
strategies, and recent progress in the development and application of antimicrobial CPPs
as potent antibacterial agents against multidrug-resistant bacteria.
