SYNTHETIC ANTI-MICROBIAL PEPTIDES WITH A MINORITY OF CATIONIC AND A MAJORITY HYDROPHOBIC SIDE CHAINS

摘要

The present invention relates to synthesised antimicrobial molecules, in particular antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), their use in decontamination and treating infections, such as bacterial infections, and methods of treatment of infections comprising administering the anti-microbial polyamides to patients in need thereof. In particular, there is provided a peptide comprising the sequence of general formula X1X2X3X4X5X6X7X8X9X10X11X12X13X14X15X16X17X18, wherein each X represents an individual amino acid residue and, X1 is any amino acid, each of X2, X5, X6, X9, X10, X11 and X14 is independently L, F, A, M or I, each of X3,, X7, X8, X12, X13, X15, X16, X17 and X18 is independently L, F, A, M or I or a cationic amino acid, X4 is M, V or Y or a cationic amino acid, and further wherein at least one of X3 and X4 is a cationic amino acid, at least one of X7 and X8 is a cationic amino acid, at least one of X15 and X16 is a cationic amino acid, and at least one of X17 and X18 is a cationic amino acid. The peptides of the invention comprise a sequence of 18 amino acids in length containing between 4 and 11 cationic residues in specific positions. The preferred peptides are of exactly 18 amino acids and have one of the following sequences: KLLKLAAKALLKLLKLKK, RLLRLAARALLRLLRLRR, KLLRLFAKALLKALKLRK, KLLKLAAKALLALLKLKK, MFKMFFKALAFFKAAKAK, RFRKAARALAIIRAAKAK, MFRMFFRALAFFRAARAR, VFKVFFKALAFFKAAKAK and YFKYFFKALAFFKAAKAK.