Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry Commons^™

Broad-Spectrum Activity Of Membranolytic Cationic Macrocyclic Peptides Against Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria And Fungi, Sandeep Lohan, Anastasia G. Konshina, Rakesh K. Tiwari, Roman G. Efremov, Innokentiy Maslennikov, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains causes severe problems in the treatment of microbial infections owing to limited treatment options. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are drawing considerable attention as promising antibiotic alternative candidates to combat MDR bacterial and fungal infections. Herein, we present a series of small amphiphilic membrane-active cyclic peptides composed, in part, of various nongenetically encoded hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids. Notably, lead cyclic peptides 3b and 4b showed broad-spectrum activity against drug-resistant Gram-positive (MIC = 1.5–6.2 µg/mL) and Gram-negative (MIC = 12.5–25 µg/mL) bacteria, and fungi (MIC = 3.1–12.5 µg/mL). Furthermore, lead peptides displayed substantial antibiofilm action comparable …