Identification, Characterization and Development of Bioactive Peptides
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 3708
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Despite the notion that peptides do not make good drugs, they have continued to carve out a niche between small molecules and biologics (proteins and antibodies), and have had an important place in medicine since the introduction of the peptide hormone insulin in the 1920s, with its eventual use as a treatment for diabetes. Peptides interact exquisitely with cellular targets and have advantages over other biomolecules which suffer from batch-to-batch reproductivity issues and off-target side effects. In the past 5 years, 22 peptides have been given FDA approval, and there are currently 80 peptides on the market for a range of indications including diabetes, cancer, and infectious disease. Peptides can also be used as imaging agents, thus cementing their place in modern medicine. The discovery of new bioactive peptides and the elucidation of their structure are at the forefront of discovery; once isolated/identified and characterized, chemists (and biologists) are tasked with total synthesis to confirm the purported structure, establish bioactivity and investigate structure–activity relationships (SAR). These tasks have been aided by new technologies, such as genome mining, and the refinement of synthetic peptide chemistry techniques, such as flow chemistry, to rapidly access synthetic polypeptides. The aim of this Special Issue is to showcase all aspects of bioactive peptides, including their isolation and characterization, new methods to chemically or biologically synthesize both peptides and unnatural amino acids, and aspects of developing bioactive peptides for lead drug candidates. Both original research reports and review articles are welcome.
Dr. Paul William Richard Harris
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- peptides
- synthesis
- isolation
- bioactivity
- pharmaceuticals
- drug discovery
