Antimicrobial peptides as promising antibiotic adjuvants to combat drug-resistant pathogens

Abstract

The widespread antimicrobial resistance (AMR) calls for the development of new antimicrobial strategies. Antibiotic adjuvant rescues antibiotic activity and increases the life span of the antibiotics, representing a more productive, timely, and cost-effective strategy in fighting drug-resistant pathogens. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from synthetic and natural sources are considered new-generation antibacterial agents. Besides their direct antimicrobial activity, growing evidence shows that some AMPs effectively enhance the activity of conventional antibiotics. The combinations of AMPs and antibiotics display an improved therapeutic effect on antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and minimize the emergence of resistance. In this review, we discuss the value of AMPs in the age of resistance, including modes of action, limiting evolutionary resistance, and their designing strategies. We summarise the recent advances in combining AMPs and antibiotics against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as well as their synergistic mechanisms. Lastly, we highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of AMPs as potential antibiotic adjuvants. This will shed new light on the deployment of synergistic combinations to address the AMR crisis.

Keywords:

• Antimicrobial peptides
• antibiotic adjuvant
• drug-resistant pathogens
• synergy mechanisms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFD1801000 and 2018YFA0903400), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172907 and 32002331), Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund (CX(20)3091 and CX(21)2010), Jiangsu Postgraduates Scientific Research Innovation Project (KYCX22-3538), Yangzhou city and Yangzhou University corporation (YZ2021161), A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD) and Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2020QNRC001).