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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1553693
Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Activity and In Vivo Efficacy of SK1260 Against Bacterial Pathogens
Provisionally accepted
Sridhar Kavela 
Murali Krishna Thupurani *- Department of Biotechnology, Chaitanya (Deemed to be University), Hyderabad, India
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has created an urgent need for novel therapies. SK1260, a newly developed antimicrobial peptide, was evaluated for its efficacy against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant strains. MIC assays demonstrated potent activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with MIC values ranging from 3.13 to 12.5 µg/mL. Time-kill studies confirmed dose-and time-dependent bactericidal activity, achieving rapid clearance at ≥1× MIC, comparable to ciprofloxacin. In murine infection models, SK1260 significantly reduced bacterial burden, ameliorated tissue damage, and increased survival rates in a dose-dependent manner. SK1260 restored normal organ morphology at therapeutic doses and achieved bacterial clearance comparable to ciprofloxacin. These findings highlight SK1260's potential as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent to combat multidrug-resistant infections, warranting further preclinical and clinical investigation.
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), SK1260 peptide, Multidrug-resistant bacteria, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), Time-kill assay, in vivo infection model
Received: 31 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kavela and Thupurani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Murali Krishna Thupurani, Department of Biotechnology, Chaitanya (Deemed to be University), Hyderabad, India
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