title: Antifungal activity from 14-helical beta-peptides.
abstract: We have discovered that short beta-peptides (9 or 10 residues) designed to adopt globally amphiphilic helical conformations display significant antifungal activity. The most promising beta-peptides cause little lysis of human red blood cells at concentrations that kill Candida albicans, a common human fungal pathogen. Since fungi are eukaryotes, discrimination between fungal and human cells is a significant finding. Our beta-peptides are active under assay conditions that mimic physiological ionic strength; in contrast, alpha-helix-forming host-defense alpha-peptides are inactive against C. albicans under these conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Amy J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Pomerantz
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weisblum
authors.forename: Samuel H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Gellman
authors.forename: Sean P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Palecek
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D010455:Peptides