Nature-inspired and medicinally relevant short peptides

Abstract

Peptides constitute an important component of Nature’s pharmacy and they play a significant role in several signaling pathways acting as natural biological messengers. While nature has mastered the cycle of creation, application, and destruction of large and short peptides to the benefit of the host organism, organic and medicinal chemists have in their capacity and small steps, made big developments in the field of peptide synthesis as well as in developing them as therapeutics. In comparison to their big counterparts, i.e. proteins, short peptides encompass several advantages, from the ease of synthesis to their physico-chemical properties. However, the real challenge for in vivo application of therapeutic peptides is to overcome their low plasma availability and their fast enzymatic degradation. This review briefly covers the relevant areas of medicinally important short peptides and the recent developments made to turn these peptides into therapeutics. Also presented in this article are important efforts and strategies used to overcome some of the inherent limitations of peptidic molecules and thereby facilitate their progression in the clinical phases towards approved drugs.