Peptidic antibiotics 1st  ISAP / ASM symposium  (held during the 101st General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology  [ASM] ) May 21, 2001, Orlando, Fla. co-organizers: P.M. Tulkens (Brussels, Belgium) & J.D. Scott(Los Angeles, CA) Goals and Format

Introduction: why do we need really new antibiotics ?  Paul M. Tulkens, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium & ISAP Past-president Peptidic antibiotics: a universal mechanism of cellular defense R.E.W. Hancock, University of British Columbia & Center for Microbial Diseases and Host Defence Research, Vancouver, BC Neutrophil antibacterial peptides, multifunctional effector molecules in the mammalian immune system  G.H. Gudmundsson, Microbiology and Tumorbiology Center, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Defensins: Key players or bystanders in infection, injury, and repair in the lung ?  P.S. Hiemstra, Department. of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center,  The Netherlands Granulysin: A novel antimicrobial peptide of cytolytic t lymphocytes and natural killer cells  A.M. Krensky, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA Human bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein: Discovery, characterization and present clinical developments  L.J. Beamer, Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia,

Because of the progressively larger emergence of resistance to existing antimicrobials, new active chemical entities are increasingly needed.  In order for those to become useful drugs, pharmacological, pharmaceutical and toxicological issues must be met, preferably from an early stage of discovery and development.

The so-called 'natural, peptide antibiotics' represent most probably one of the very first (in evolution), and most sucessful form of chemical defense of living eucaryotic cells againts invasion by other living organisms (viruses, bacteria, ...).  Long ignored, they could nowadays represent one of the main avenue for our protection after the "well known and almost programmed" failure of the existing antibiotics.

The symposium has reviewed ome of the most recent approaches in these areas which may allow for the safe and fast development of these new antibiotics.  The symposium has also examined

• how peptidic antibiotics eventually interact with eucaryotic cells and modulate the inflammatory reaction to infection
• to what extent peptidic antibiotics may be introduced in the clinical arena to effectively provide patients with safer and more efficient treatments.

Last update: May 25th, 2001 

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• CP-26, an alpha-helical antimicrobial peptide (from: Hancock RE, Lehrer R. Cationic peptides: a new source of antibiotics. Trends Biotechnol. 1998 Feb;16(2):82-8). According to the authors, this type of peptide basically interacts with the surface of Gram negative bacteria and is taken up by self-promoted uptake. It then inserts into the cytoplasmic membrane under the influence of the transmembrane electrical potential gradient, causing evntually rap!id cell deatht.  See details at R.A. Hancock's WEB site (http://www.cmdr.ubc.ca/bobh/peptides.htm)
• other images are taken with permission from the WEB sites they are linked to.