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Therapeutic Potential of Antimicrobial Peptides

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New Weapons to Control Bacterial Growth

Abstract

The emergence of pathogens which are resistant or multi-drug resistant to most of the currently available antibiotics is posing an immense burden to the healthcare systems throughout the world. The development of new classes of antibiotics has also suffered a decline since many pharmaceutical companies have gradually abandoned the field. Fortunately, several public–private initiatives to spur the development of new antibiotics have been recently launched. Antimicrobial peptides are thus attracting a renewed interest as potential therapeutic antibiotic candidates. In fact, some of the oldest available antibiotics in the market are cyclic antimicrobial peptides, such as polymyxin B, colistin, gramicidin or bacitracin. However, pharmacological and toxicological problems associated with the systemic use of antimicrobial peptides are slowing their development and drug approval. An overview of the advantages and drawbacks of antimicrobial peptides as antibiotic drugs and a report of compounds that are in development are described.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the support of Generalitat de Catalunya (VAL-TEC 08-1-0016, ACC10), MICINN-MINECO (CTQ2008-06200), Fundació Bosch i Gimpera (UB) and Xarxa de Referència en Biotecnologia (XRB). The authors (FR and YC) are members of the ENABLE (European Gram-Negative Antibacterial Engine) European consortium (IMI-ND4BB, http://www.imi.europa.eu/content/enable).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, C/Martí i Franquès, 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Francesc Rabanal

  2. Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute IN2UB, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Yolanda Cajal

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  1. Francesc Rabanal
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Correspondence to Francesc Rabanal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostel, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Tomas G. Villa

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain

    Miguel Vinas

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Rabanal, F., Cajal, Y. (2016). Therapeutic Potential of Antimicrobial Peptides. In: Villa, T., Vinas, M. (eds) New Weapons to Control Bacterial Growth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28368-5_16

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