The severe infection is becoming a significant health problem which threaten the lives of patients and the safety and economy of society. In the way of finding new strategy, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) - an important part of host defense family, emerged with tremendous potential. Up to date, huge numbers of AMPs has been investigated from both natural and synthetic sources showing not only the ability to kill microbial pathogens but also propose other benefits such as wound healing, anti-tumor, immune modulation. In this review, we describe the involvements of AMPs in biological systems and discuss the opportunity in developing AMPs for clinical applications. In the detail, their properties in antibacterial activity is followed by their application in some infection diseases and cancer. The key discussions are the approaches to improve biological activities of AMPs either by modifying chemical structure or incorporating into delivery systems. The new applications and perspectives for the future of AMPs would open the new era of their development.

严重感染正在成为威胁患者生命安全和社会经济的重大健康问题。在寻找新策略的过程中，宿主防御家族的重要组成部分抗菌肽 (AMP) 以巨大的潜力出现。迄今为止，已经对来自天然和合成来源的大量 AMP 进行了研究，表明它们不仅具有杀死微生物病原体的能力，而且还提出了其他益处，例如伤口愈合、抗肿瘤、免疫调节。在这篇综述中，我们描述了 AMP 在生物系统中的作用，并讨论了开发用于临床应用的 AMP 的机会。详细地说，它们在抗菌活性方面的特性是继它们在某些感染性疾病和癌症中的应用之后。关键讨论是通过修改化学结构或纳入输送系统来提高 AMP 的生物活性的方法。AMP 未来的新应用和前景将开启其发展的新纪元。