Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health concern responsible for 1.27 million deaths in 2019 and is expected to take 10 million lives by 2050 [1]. The growing AMR crisis is attributed to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, leading to ineffective antibiotics that are unable to display antimicrobial activity [2]. Therefore, not only increasing AMR pathogens’ survival but also the recovery period leading to higher mortality [1]. Currently, there is a lack of antibiotics being developed specifically for gram-negative bacteria which are becoming multi-drug resistant (MDR), making treatment for AMR pathogens lengthy, costly, and dangerous [3-6]. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement for new effective antibiotics.
Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are peptides that display antimicrobial properties. They have diverse characteristics including amino acid sequence, function, and mechanisms of action, making them an excellent candidate for treating future infectious diseases [7]. A potential class of AMP of interest is proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMP) that inhibit the growth of gram-negative bacteria by interfering with the protein synthesis, by targeting the ribosome and the DnaK structure in the bacteria [8]. AMP’s potency can be increased by creating peptide-drug conjugation. Therefore, we aim to create peptide-drug conjugate analogues using a different combination of PrAMP peptides and antibiotics. In this presentation, I will report the development of AMP that will not only decrease the growing resistant cases but will also inhibit pathogens from developing resistance leading to a lower mortality rate and a decreased recovery period.