Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides show a long-lasting post-antibiotic effect on Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Background: Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMPs) represent a promising class of potential therapeutics to treat multiresistant infections. They inhibit bacterial protein translation at the 70S ribosome by either blocking the peptide-exit tunnel (oncocin type) or trapping release factors (apidaecin type).

Objectives: Besides direct concentration-dependent antibacterial effects, the post-antibiotic effect (PAE) is the second most important criterion of antimicrobial pharmacodynamics to be determined in vitro.

Correlating uptake and activity of proline-rich antimicrobial peptides in Escherichia coli.

Increasing death tolls accounted for by antimicrobial drug resistance demand novel antibiotic lead compounds. Among different promising candidate classes, proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMPs) are very favorable due to their intracellular mechanism, i.e.

Immunogenicity and pharmacokinetics of short, proline-rich antimicrobial peptides.

Aim: The potential of proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMPs) to treat multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens has been intensively investigated. They are efficacious at low doses in infection models and well tolerated in healthy mice at high doses.

Methods & Results: PrAMPs Onc72 and Api88 were nonimmunogenic in mice unless conjugated to a carrier protein.