Antifungal activity from 14-helical β-peptides

We have discovered that short β-peptides (9 or 10 residues) designed to adopt globally amphiphilic helical conformations display significant antifungal activity. The most promising β-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 β-peptides are active under assay conditions that mimic physiological ionic strength; in contrast, α-helix-forming host-defense α-peptides are inactive against C. albicans under these conditions. Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society.