title: Short AntiMicrobial Peptides (SAMPs) as a class of extraordinary promising therapeutic agents.
abstract: The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria has a direct impact on global public health because of the reduced potency of existing antibiotics against pathogens. Hence, there is a pressing need for new drugs with different modes of action that can kill microorganisms. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be regarded as an alternative tool for this purpose because they are proven to have therapeutic effects with broad-spectrum activities. There are some hurdles in using AMPs as clinical candidates such as toxicity, lack of stability and high budgets required for manufacturing. This can be overcome by developing shorter and more easily accessible AMPs, the so-called Short AntiMicrobial Peptides (SAMPs) that contain between two and ten amino acid residues. These are emerging as an attractive class of therapeutic agents with high potential for clinical use and possessing multifunctional activities. In this review we attempted to compile those SAMPs that have exhibited biological properties which are believed to hold promise for the future. Copyright © 2016 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa.
authors.forename: Suhas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramesh
authors.affiliation: Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa.
authors.forename: Thavendran
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Govender
authors.affiliation: Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa.
authors.forename: Hendrik G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Kruger
authors.affiliation: Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa.
authors.forename: Beatriz G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: de la Torre
authors.affiliation: Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa.|School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa.|CIBER-BBN, Networking Centre on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, Barcelona Science Park, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Albericio
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D009842:Oligopeptides
keywords: antimicrobial peptides; drug discovery; short sequences; therapeutics