title: Design and Application of Antimicrobial Peptide Conjugates.
abstract: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an interesting class of antibiotics characterized by their unique antibiotic activity and lower propensity for developing resistance compared to common antibiotics. They belong to the class of membrane-active peptides and usually act selectively against bacteria, fungi and protozoans. AMPs, but also peptide conjugates containing AMPs, have come more and more into the focus of research during the last few years. Within this article, recent work on AMP conjugates is reviewed. Different aspects will be highlighted as a combination of AMPs with antibiotics or organometallic compounds aiming to increase antibacterial activity or target selectivity, conjugation with photosensitizers for improving photodynamic therapy (PDT) or the attachment to particles, to name only a few. Owing to the enormous resonance of antimicrobial conjugates in the literature so far, this research topic seems to be very attractive to different scientific fields, like medicine, biology, biochemistry or chemistry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Str. 47, D-50674 Cologne, Germany. andre.reinhardt1@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reinhardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Str. 47, D-50674 Cologne, Germany. ines.neundorf@uni-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Neundorf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents
keywords: antibiotics; antimicrobial peptide conjugates; antimicrobial peptides; nanoparticles; organometallic complexes; photosensitizer