RESUMEN
The rapid rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has once again caused bacterial infections to become a global health concern. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also known as host defense peptides (HDPs), offer a viable solution to these pathogens due to their diverse mechanisms of actions, which include direct killing as well as immunomodulatory properties (e.g., anti-inflammatory activity). HDPs may hence provide a more robust treatment of bacterial infections. In this review, the advent of and the mechanisms that lead to antibiotic resistance will be described. HDP mechanisms of antibacterial and immunomodulatory action will be presented, with specific examples of how the HDP aurein 2.2 and a few of its derivatives, namely peptide 73 and cG4L73, function. Finally, resistance that may arise from a broader use of HDPs in a clinical setting and methods to improve biocompatibility will be briefly discussed.
Asunto(s)
Péptidos Catiónicos Antimicrobianos/inmunología , Péptidos Catiónicos Antimicrobianos/farmacología , Bacterias/efectos de los fármacos , Bacterias/inmunología , Infecciones Bacterianas/tratamiento farmacológico , Infecciones Bacterianas/inmunología , Inmunomodulación , Antiinfecciosos/farmacología , Péptidos Catiónicos Antimicrobianos/química , Infecciones Bacterianas/microbiología , Farmacorresistencia Bacteriana , Interacciones Microbiota-Huesped , Humanos , Agentes Inmunomoduladores/farmacologíaRESUMEN
The term host defense peptides arose at the beginning to refer to those peptides that are part of the host's immunity. Because of their broad antimicrobial capacity and immunomodulatory activity, nowadays, they emerge as a hope to combat resistant multi-drug microorganisms and emerging viruses, such as the case of coronaviruses. Since the beginning of this century, coronaviruses have been part of different outbreaks and a pandemic, and they will be surely part of the next pandemics, this review analyses whether these peptides and their derivatives are ready to be part of the treatment of the next coronavirus pandemic.
Asunto(s)
Péptidos Catiónicos Antimicrobianos/uso terapéutico , Antivirales/uso terapéutico , Infecciones por Coronavirus/tratamiento farmacológico , Infecciones por Coronavirus/epidemiología , Pandemias , Antiinflamatorios/síntesis química , Antiinflamatorios/inmunología , Antiinflamatorios/uso terapéutico , Péptidos Catiónicos Antimicrobianos/síntesis química , Péptidos Catiónicos Antimicrobianos/inmunología , Antivirales/síntesis química , Antivirales/inmunología , Ensayos Clínicos como Asunto , Coronavirus/efectos de los fármacos , Coronavirus/fisiología , Infecciones por Coronavirus/inmunología , Infecciones por Coronavirus/virología , Humanos , Inmunomodulación , Infecciones del Sistema Respiratorio/tratamiento farmacológico , Infecciones del Sistema Respiratorio/epidemiología , Infecciones del Sistema Respiratorio/inmunología , Infecciones del Sistema Respiratorio/virologíaRESUMEN
The SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an explosion of interest both in the mechanisms of infection leading to dissemination and expression of this disease, and in potential risk factors that may have a mechanistic basis for disease propagation or control. Vitamin D has emerged as a factor that may be involved in these two areas. The focus of this article is to apply our current understanding of vitamin D as a facilitator of immunocompetence both with regard to innate and adaptive immunity and to consider how this may relate to COVID-19 disease. There are also intriguing potential links to vitamin D as a factor in the cytokine storm that portends some of the most serious consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Moreover, cardiac and coagulopathic features of COVID-19 disease deserve attention as they may also be related to vitamin D. Finally, we review the current clinical data associating vitamin D with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a putative clinical link that at this time must still be considered hypothetical.