Sharma Anindita, Singh Gursharan, Bhatti Jasvinder Singh, Gill Simarpreet Kaur, Arya Shailendra Kumar
Department of Biotechnology, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India.
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2025 Jan;284(Pt 1):137957. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.137957. Epub 2024 Nov 26.
Antifungal peptides (AFPs) are small cationic peptides that are found in a diverse range of taxa including bacteria, plants, mammals and insects. AFPs exhibit the strong antifungal activities against several pathogenic fungi, making them potential candidates for developing novel antifungal agents. AFP cause fungal cell death by rupturing the membranes of the fungal cell wall and inhibits the vital enzymes. Since AFPs are isolated from a range of natural sources, efforts are being made to create synthetic versions of these peptides with improved pharmacological properties. One of their key advantages is that they are less likely to develop resistance as compared to conventional antifungal medications. Although AFPs display immense potential as antifungal agents, challenges still exist in their stability, solubility, absorption, and time-consuming extraction process. Still, the possibility for AFPs to evolve into a novel class of antifungal medicine gives hope for improved treatments for fungal infections. This article offers the comprehensive information on AFPs origin, mode of action, prospective use in antifungal treatments. It also discusses about the application of antifungal peptides beyond the therapeutic field, such as in agriculture for crop protection, in food industry and in aquaculture field. It further elaborates on the challenges and potential paths associated with the progression of AFPs as advanced antifungal agents.
抗真菌肽（AFPs）是一类小分子阳离子肽，存在于多种生物类群中，包括细菌、植物、哺乳动物和昆虫。AFPs对多种致病真菌具有强大的抗真菌活性，使其成为开发新型抗真菌药物的潜在候选物。AFPs通过破坏真菌细胞壁的膜来导致真菌细胞死亡，并抑制重要酶的活性。由于AFPs是从一系列天然来源中分离出来的，因此人们正在努力创造具有改进药理特性的这些肽的合成版本。它们的一个关键优势是，与传统抗真菌药物相比，它们产生耐药性的可能性较小。尽管AFPs作为抗真菌剂具有巨大潜力，但在其稳定性、溶解性、吸收性以及耗时的提取过程方面仍然存在挑战。尽管如此，AFPs演变成一类新型抗真菌药物的可能性为改善真菌感染的治疗带来了希望。本文提供了关于AFPs的起源、作用方式、在抗真菌治疗中的潜在用途的全面信息。它还讨论了抗真菌肽在治疗领域之外的应用，例如在农业中用于作物保护、在食品工业和水产养殖领域。它进一步阐述了与AFPs作为先进抗真菌剂发展相关的挑战和潜在途径。
