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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Development of a Backbone Cyclic Peptide Library as Potential Antiparasitic Therapeutics Using Microwave Irradiation
Published on: January 26, 2016
A Synthetic Cyclized Antimicrobial Peptide with Potent Effects against Drug-Resistant Skin Pathogens
John Kerr White1,2, Soumitra Mohanty1,2,3, Taj Muhammad3,4
1Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract:
Dermal infections requiring treatment are usually treated with conventional antibiotics, but the rise of bacterial resistance to first-line antibiotics warrants alternative therapeutics. Here, we report that a backbone-cyclized antimicrobial peptide, CD4-PP, designed from the human host defense peptide LL-37, has strong direct antibacterial effects on antibiotic sensitive as well as resistant-type strains and clinical isolates of common skin pathogens in the low (<2) μM range. In addition, it influences innate immunity in keratinocytes, and treatment with CD4-PP is able to clear bacterial infections in infected keratinocytes. Additionally, CD4-PP treatment significantly reduces the wound area in a lawn of keratinocytes infected with MRSA. In conclusion, CD4-PP has the potential to serve as a future drug treating wounds infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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