title: Cathelicidin peptides as candidates for a novel class of antimicrobials.
abstract: Cathelicidin peptides are a numerous group of mammalian cationic antimicrobial peptides. Despite a common evolutionary origin of their genes, peptides display a remarkable variety of sizes, sequences and structures. Their spectra of antimicrobial activity are varied and cover a range of organisms that includes bacteria, fungi and enveloped viruses. In addition, they bind to and neutralize the effects of endotoxin. These features make this family of peptides good candidates in view of a therapeutic use. The most promising ones are currently under evaluation as leads for the development of novel anti-infectives, and synthetic variants are in an advanced stage of development for specific clinical applications. This review focuses on recent studies on the structure and in vitro and in vivo biological activities of these peptides.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biomediche, Universit di Udine, P.le Kolbe, 4, 33100 Udine, Italy. zanetti@icgeb.trieste.it
authors.forename: Margherita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gennaro
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Skerlavaj
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tomasinsig
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Circo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014780:Viruses / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides