J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128 (39), 12630 -12631, 2006. 10.1021/ja064630y S0002-7863(06)04630-0
Web Release Date: September 9, 2006

Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society

Antifungal Activity from 14-Helical -Peptides

Amy J. Karlsson, William C. Pomerantz, Bernard Weisblum, Samuel H. Gellman,* and Sean P. Palecek*

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of Chemistry, and Department of Pharmacology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

gellman@chem.wisc.edu; palecek@engr.wisc.edu

Received June 29, 2006

Abstract:

We have discovered that short -peptides (9 or 10 residues) designed to adopt globally amphiphilic helical conformations display significant antifungal activity. The most promising -peptides cause little lysis of human red blood cells at concentrations that kill Candida albicans, a common human fungal pathogen. Since fungi are eukaryotes, discrimination between fungal and human cells is a significant finding. Our -peptides are active under assay conditions that mimic physiological ionic strength; in contrast, -helix-forming host-defense -peptides are inactive against C. albicans under these conditions.

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