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The therapeutic applications of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs): a patent review

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Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small molecules with a broad spectrum of antibiotic activities against bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and viruses and cytotoxic activity on cancer cells, in addition to anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Therefore, AMPs have garnered interest as novel therapeutic agents. Because of the rapid increase in drug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms, AMPs from synthetic and natural sources have been developed using alternative antimicrobial strategies. This article presents a broad analysis of patents referring to the therapeutic applications of AMPs since 2009. The review focuses on the universal trends in the effective design, mechanism, and biological evolution of AMPs.

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  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chosun University, Gwangju, 61452, Republic of Korea

    Hee-Kyoung Kang & Yoonkyung Park

  2. Department of Bioinformatics, Kongju National University, Kongju, 32588, Republic of Korea

    Cheolmin Kim & Chang Ho Seo

  3. Research Center for Proteinaceous Materials, Chosun University, Gwangju, 61452, Republic of Korea

    Yoonkyung Park

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  1. Hee-Kyoung Kang
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Kang, HK., Kim, C., Seo, C.H. et al. The therapeutic applications of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs): a patent review. J Microbiol. 55, 1–12 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-017-6452-1

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