New Publication

The antimicrobial peptide C14R is active against all pathogenic species of the ESKAPE Group. A schematic overview of the resazurin-based viability assay with ESKAPE strains in the presence of C14R. Figure from Gruber et al. Antibiotics 2026, 15(2), 211.

Our new publication by Daniel Gruber, Verena Vogel, Jan-Christoph Walter, Grigory Bolotnikov, Armando Rodríguez, Nico Preising, Ludger Ständker, Carolina Firacative, Barbara Spellerberg, Ann-Kathrin Kissmann and Frank Rosenau addresses the urgent global rise of antimicrobial resistance among the ESKAPE pathogens: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella quasipneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species by investigating the synthetic antimicrobial and pore-forming peptide C14R. Using radial diffusion assays and resazurin-based viability testing, we demonstrate that C14R exhibits potent broad-spectrum bactericidal activity against all six ESKAPE species, including multidrug-resistant strains, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 3.4 μg/mL (vancomycin-resistant E. faecium) to 45.2 μg/mL (ESBL-producing K. quasipneumoniae). In addition, C14R effectively inhibited biofilm formation in Gram-positive pathogens, achieving minimum biofilm inhibitory concentrations (MBICs) of 15.0 μg/mL for MRSA and 22.0 μg/mL for VRE, while Gram-negative biofilms displayed higher tolerance. Together, these findings highlight C14R as a highly active lead compound against multidrug-resistant ESKAPE strains and underscore its strong potential for the development of next-generation antimicrobial therapies to strengthen our antibiotic arsenal against emerging severe infections.

Link to publication: The Antimicrobial Peptide C14R Is Active Against All Pathogenic Species of the ESKAPE Group