Nanostructured Antimicrobial Peptides: Crucial Steps of Overcoming the Bottleneck for Clinics

The security issue of human health is faced with dispiriting threats from multidrug-resistant bacteria infections induced by the abuse and misuse of antibiotics. Over decades, the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) hold great promise as a viable alternative to treatment with antibiotics due to their peculiar antimicrobial mechanisms of action, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, lower drug residue, and ease of synthesis and modification. However, they universally express a series of disadvantages that hinder their potential application in the biomedical field (e.g., low bioavailability, poor protease resistance, and high cytotoxicity) and extremely waste the abundant resources of AMP database discovered over the decades. For all these reasons, the nanostructured antimicrobial peptides (Ns-AMPs), based on a variety of nanosystem modification, have made up for the deficiencies and pushed the development of novel AMP-based antimicrobial therapies. In this review, we provide an overview of the advantages of Ns-AMPs in improving therapeutic efficacy and biological stability, reducing side effects, and gaining the effect of organic targeting and drug controlled release. Then the different material categories of Ns-AMPs are described, including inorganic material nanosystems containing AMPs, organic material nanosystems containing AMPs, and self-assembled AMPs. Additionally, this review focuses on the Ns-AMPs for the effect of biological activities, with emphasis on antimicrobial activity, biosecurity, and biological stability. The state-of-the-art antimicrobial modes of Ns-AMPs, including controlled release of AMPs under a specific environment or intrinsic antimicrobial properties of Ns-AMPs, are also explicated. Finally, the perspectives and conclusions of the current research in this field are also summarized.

Automated summary

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered a viable alternative to antibiotics due to their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and ease of synthesis, but they have disadvantages such as low bioavailability, poor protease resistance, and high cytotoxicity. Nanostructured antimicrobial peptides (Ns-AMPs) address these limitations through various nanosystem modifications, improving therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects. This review highlights the advantages of Ns-AMPs in terms of biological stability and antimicrobial activity, as well as discussing their controlled release mechanisms and future research directions.