Main description:

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted extensive research attention worldwide. Harnessing and creating AMPs synthetically has the potential to help overcome increasing antibiotic resistance in many pathogens. This new edition lays the foundations for studying AMPs, including a discovery timeline, terminology, nomenclature and classifications. It covers current advances in AMP research and examines state-of-the-art technologies such as bioinformatics, combinatorial libraries, high-throughput screening, database-guided identification, genomics and proteomics-based prediction, and structure-based design of AMPs. Thoroughly updated and revised, this second edition contains new content covering: defensins; cathelicidins; anti-MRSA, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer and antibiofilm strategies; combined treatments; adjuvants in vaccines; advances in AMP technologies that cover surface coating to prevent biofilm formation; nanofiber encapsulation technologies for delivery and sustained release; and understanding innate immunity and the basis for immune boosting to overcome obstacles in developing AMPs into therapeutic agents. Written and reviewed by a group of established investigators in the field, Antimicrobial Peptides is a valuable resource for postgraduate students, researchers, educators, and medical and industrial personnel.

Contents:

PART I: OVERVIEW OF ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES 1: Discovery, Classification and Functional Diversity of Antimicrobial Peptides PART II: NATURAL TEMPLATES FOR PEPTIDE ENGINEERING 2: Structural and Functional Diversity of Cathelicidins 3: Disulfide-linked Defensins and Their Therapeutic Potential 4: Lantibiotics: Bioengineering and Applications PART III: EXPANDING PEPTIDE SPACE: COMBINATORIAL LIBRARY, GENOME-BASED PREDICTION AND DE NOVO DESIGN 5: Discovery of Novel Antimicrobial Peptides Using Combinatorial Chemistry and High-throughput Screening 6: Prediction and Design of Antimicrobial Peptides: Methods and Applications to Genomes and Proteomes PART IV: MECHANISMS OF ACTION: BIOPHYSICS AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 7: Antimicrobial Peptides: Multiple Mechanisms Against a Variety of Targets 8: Microbial Membranes and the Action of Antimicrobial Peptides 9: Non-membranolytic Mechanisms of Action of Antimicrobial Peptides - Novel Therapeutic Opportunities? 10: Structural Insight into the Mechanisms of Action of Antimicrobial Peptides and Structure-based Design PART V: NOVEL THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES: SYNERGY, IMMUNE MODULATION, SURFACE COATING, AND DELIVERY 11: Synergy of Antimicrobial Peptides 12: Surface Immobilization of Antimicrobial Peptides to Prevent Biofilm Formation 13: Sustained Delivery of Cathelicidin Antimicrobial Peptide-Inducing Compounds to Minimize Infection and Enhance Wound Healing 14: Immunomodulatory Activities of Cationic Host Defence Peptides and Novel Therapeutic Strategies