A Review of Bioactive Peptides: Chemical Modification, Structural Characterization and Therapeutic Applications

In recent years, the development and applications of protein drugs have attracted extensive attention from researchers. However, the shortcomings of protein drugs also limit their further development. Therefore, bioactive peptides isolated or simulated from protein polymers have broad application prospects in food, medicine, biotechnology, and other industries. Such peptides have a molecular weight distribution between 180 and 1000 Da. As a small molecule substance, bioactive peptide is usually degraded by various enzymes in the organism and have a short half-life. At the same time, such substances have poor stability and are difficult to produce and store. Therefore, these active peptides may be modified through phosphorylation, glycosylation, and acylation. Compared with other protein drugs, the modified active peptides are more easily absorbed by the body, have longer half-life, stronger targeting, and fewer side effects in addition to higher bioavailability. In the light of their functions, bioactive peptide can be divided into antimicrobial, anti-tumour, anti-angiogenic, antioxidant, anti-fatigue, and anti-hypertensive peptides. This article mainly focuses on the introduction of several promising biologically active peptides functioning as antimicrobial, anti-tumour, antiangiogenic, and antioxidant peptides from the three aspects modification, structural characteristics and mechanism of action.