De novo design of antimicrobial polymers, foldamers, and small molecules: from discovery to practical applications.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) provide protection against a variety of pathogenic bacteria and are, therefore, an important part of the innate immune system. Over the past decade, there has been considerable interest in developing AMPs as intravenously administered antibiotics. However, despite extensive efforts in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, it has proven difficult to achieve this goal. While researchers have solved some relatively simple problems such as susceptibility to proteolysis, more severe problems have included the expense of the materials, toxicity, poor efficacy, and limited tissue distribution. In this Account, we describe our efforts to design and synthesize "foldamers"-- short sequence-specific oligomers based on arylamide and beta-amino acid backbones, whi

SUBMITTER: Tew GN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2808429 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature