Antimicrobial peptides: new hope in the war against multidrug resistance

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2019.062

Review

. 2019 Nov 18;40(6):488-505.

doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2019.062.

Antimicrobial peptides: new hope in the war against multidrug resistance

James Mwangi^{1

2

3}, Xue Hao¹, Ren Lai^{1

3

4

5

6}, Zhi-Ye Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Bioactive Peptides of Yunnan Province/Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China.
² Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650204, China.
³ Sino-African Joint Research Center, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China.
⁴ Institutes for Drug Discovery and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
⁵ KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China.
⁶ Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Hubei 430071, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Bioactive Peptides of Yunnan Province/Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China, E-mail:zhangzhiye@mail.kiz.ac.cn.

PMID: 31592585
PMCID: PMC6822926
DOI: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2019.062

Review

Antimicrobial peptides: new hope in the war against multidrug resistance

James Mwangi et al. Zool Res. 2019.

. 2019 Nov 18;40(6):488-505.

doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2019.062.

Authors

James Mwangi^{1

2

3}, Xue Hao¹, Ren Lai^{1

3

4

5

6}, Zhi-Ye Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Bioactive Peptides of Yunnan Province/Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China.
² Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650204, China.
³ Sino-African Joint Research Center, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China.
⁴ Institutes for Drug Discovery and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
⁵ KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China.
⁶ Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Hubei 430071, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Bioactive Peptides of Yunnan Province/Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Yunnan 650223, China, E-mail:zhangzhiye@mail.kiz.ac.cn.

PMID: 31592585
PMCID: PMC6822926
DOI: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2019.062

Abstract

The discovery of antibiotics marked a golden age in the revolution of human medicine. However, decades later, bacterial infections remain a global healthcare threat, and a return to the pre-antibiotic era seems inevitable if stringent measures are not adopted to curb the rapid emergence and spread of multidrug resistance and the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. In hospital settings, multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens, including carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) bearing Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae are amongst the most problematic due to the paucity of treatment options, increased hospital stay, and exorbitant medical costs. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) provide an excellent potential strategy for combating these threats. Compared to empirical antibiotics, they show low tendency to select for resistance, rapid killing action, broad-spectrum activity, and extraordinary clinical efficacy against several MDR strains. Therefore, this review highlights multidrug resistance among nosocomial bacterial pathogens and its implications and reiterates the importance of AMPs as next-generation antibiotics for combating MDR superbugs.

Keywords: Antibiotic alternatives; Antimicrobial peptide; Multidrug resistance; Nosocomial infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

**Figure 1. Number of natural and synthetic antimicrobial peptides from different kingdoms (total 3 011) as of July 2019**
Data obtained from antimicrobial peptide database http://aps.unmc.edu/AP/ (Wang et al., 2016).

**Figure 2. Structural diversity and helical wheel projections of representative AMPs**
A: α-helical-magainin (PDB ID 2LSA). B: β-sheet-chicken ovo-defensin (PDB ID 2MJK). C: Extended coil-tritrpticin. Images were created with Protein Data Bank (PDP) (Bioinformaticsdoi:10.1093/bioinformatics/bty419) (Rose et al., 2018) and visualized with Jmol software. D: Helical wheel projections of four representative peptides showing physical properties canonical to all AMPs, including distribution of amino acid residues, net charge, and hydrophobicity established to correlate with antimicrobial activity, selectivity, and cytotoxicity. Positively charged residues (polar) are represented as blue circles and hydrophobic (nonpolar) residues are yellow circles. Wheels projections, net charge, and hydrophobicity of AMPs were generated with HeliQuest webserver (http://heliquest.ipmc. cnrs.fr/).

**Figure 3. Schematic of membrane disruptive and non-membrane disruptive bacterial killing mechanisms of AMPs**
Illustration created with BIORENDER.COM.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

1. Adedeji WA. 2016. The treasure called antibiotics. Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine, 14(2): 56–57. - PMC - PubMed
1. Alanis AJ. 2005. Resistance to antibiotics: Are we in the post-antibiotic era?. Archives of Medical Research, 36(6): 697–705. - PubMed
1. Allen NE, Nicas TI. 2003. Mechanism of action of oritavancin and related glycopeptide antibiotics. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 26(5): 511–532. - PubMed
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1. Andersson DI, Hughes D, Kubicek-Sutherland JZ. 2016. Mechanisms and consequences of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial peptides. Drug Resistance Updates, 26: 43–57. - PubMed

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[1] Adedeji WA. 2016. The treasure called antibiotics. Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine, 14(2): 56–57. - PMC - PubMed

[2] Adedeji WA. 2016. The treasure called antibiotics. Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine, 14(2): 56–57. - PMC - PubMed

[3] Alanis AJ. 2005. Resistance to antibiotics: Are we in the post-antibiotic era?. Archives of Medical Research, 36(6): 697–705. - PubMed

[4] Alanis AJ. 2005. Resistance to antibiotics: Are we in the post-antibiotic era?. Archives of Medical Research, 36(6): 697–705. - PubMed

[5] Allen NE, Nicas TI. 2003. Mechanism of action of oritavancin and related glycopeptide antibiotics. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 26(5): 511–532. - PubMed

[6] Allen NE, Nicas TI. 2003. Mechanism of action of oritavancin and related glycopeptide antibiotics. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 26(5): 511–532. - PubMed

[7] Anderson DJ. 2011. Surgical site Infections. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, 25(1): 135–153. - PubMed

[8] Anderson DJ. 2011. Surgical site Infections. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, 25(1): 135–153. - PubMed

[9] Andersson DI, Hughes D, Kubicek-Sutherland JZ. 2016. Mechanisms and consequences of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial peptides. Drug Resistance Updates, 26: 43–57. - PubMed

[10] Andersson DI, Hughes D, Kubicek-Sutherland JZ. 2016. Mechanisms and consequences of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial peptides. Drug Resistance Updates, 26: 43–57. - PubMed

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Antimicrobial peptides: new hope in the war against multidrug resistance

Affiliations

Antimicrobial peptides: new hope in the war against multidrug resistance

Authors

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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