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Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1568-0266
ISSN (Online): 1873-4294

Review Article

Antimicrobial Peptides as a Strategy to Combat Fungal Biofilms

Author(s): Nicolas Delattin, Katrijn De Brucker, Kaat De Cremer, Bruno P.A. Cammue and Karin Thevissen

Volume 17, Issue 5, 2017

Page: [604 - 612] Pages: 9

DOI: 10.2174/1568026616666160713142228

Price: $65

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections caused by opportunistic fungal pathogens are associated with high mortality rates, mainly due to the occurrence of genotypic and/or phenotypic resistance. One of the causes of phenotypic resistance is the preferred growth of various fungal pathogens as biofilms, which are tolerant or resistant to most classes of antifungal agents. Moreover, increasing evidence points to biofilm formation as a general prerequisite for the development of systemic infections. Therefore, new antibiofilm agents are urgently needed to reduce the incidence of biofilm-associated infections. Nowadays, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered as valuable alternatives for or complements to the classical antifungal agents to combat fungal infections. Many review reports describe activity of AMPs against free-living planktonic fungal pathogens. In contrast, this review summarizes the antibiofilm properties of natural or synthetic AMPs against fungal biofilms and their potential to enhance the antibiofilm activity of existing antifungal agents.

Keywords: Antimicrobial Peptides, Antifungal, Antibiofilm, Coating, Peptide drugs, Candida spp., Cryptococcus spp.

Graphical Abstract

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