Patent ID: RE38828

Claim:
An antimicrobial compound composed of 11-24 amino acid residues comprising the amino acid sequence: A 1 -A 2 -A 3 -C 4 -C 5 -C 6 -A 7 -C 8 -A 9 -A 10 -A 11 -A 12 -C 13 -A 14 -C 15 -C 16 -C 17 -A 18 or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or an N-terminal acylated or C-terminal amidated or esterified form thereof, wherein: each of A 1 -A 3 is independently present or not present, and if present each is independently a basic, hydrophobic, polar/large, or small amino acid; each of C 4 and C 17 is independently present or not present, and if present each is independently selected from the group consisting of a thiol-containing amino acid, a basic amino acid, a hydrophobic amino acid, a polar/large amino acid and a small amino acid; C 5 is selected from the group consisting of a thiol-containing amino acid, a basic amino acid, a hydrophobic amino acid, a polar/large amino acid and a small amino acid; each of C 8 and C 13 is independently a thiol-containing amino acid; each of C 6 and C 15 is independently selected from the group consisting of a thiol-containing amino acid, a basic amino acid, a hydrophobic amino acid, a polar/large amino acid, a small amino acid and an acidic amino acid; C 16 is selected from the group consisting of a thiol-containing amino acid, a hydrophobic amino acid or a small amino acid; each of A 7 and A 14 is independently a hydrophobic or a small amino acid; A 9 -A 12 taken together are capable of effecting a β-turn when contained in the compound and at least one of A 9 -A 12 is a basic amino acid; A 18 is present or not present, and if present, is a basic, hydrophobic, polar/large, or small amino acid; at least about 15% to about 50% of the amino acid residues composing said compound are basic amino acids; and said compound has a net positive charge of at least +1 at physiological pH; with the provisos that: (i) when one of C 4 , C 5 or C 6 is a thiol-containing amino acid, the other two are other than a thiol-containing amino acid; (ii) when one of C 15 , C 16 or C 17 is a thiol-containing amino acid, the other two are other than a thiol-containing amino acid; and (iii) the compound has one feature selected from the group consisting of: (1) C 4 and C 15 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid; (2) C 4 and C 16 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid; (3) C 4 and C 17 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid; (4) C 5 and C 15 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid; (5) C 5 and C 16 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid; (6) C 6 and C 16 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid; and (7) C 6 and C 17 are each independently a thiol-containing amino acid.