Peptide News Digest

Weizmann Lipo-Isopeptides Against Candida, a Sharper Kidney Cancer PET Peptide, Semaglutide in Psoriasis

Weizmann chemists build enzyme-resistant antifungal peptides, a cyclic peptide sharpens kidney cancer scans, and semaglutide eases psoriasis in a small review.

3 stories · Covering research

Editor's Note

Saturday brought three journal papers and no company news. A Weizmann Institute team tackled two weaknesses of antimicrobial peptides, enzyme breakdown and toxicity, by rebuilding them with unusual bonds and fatty tails, and the lead version stopped Candida from forming biofilms without breeding much resistance in the lab. A Beijing group tuned the ring of a cyclic peptide imaging agent so it binds a kidney cancer marker without lighting up the gut, a problem with an existing probe. And a small Italian clinic review found psoriasis improving alongside weight loss in 33 people taking semaglutide, a link worth testing in a controlled trial rather than a result on its own.

Research

Weizmann Institute's Lipo-Isopeptides Kill Candida, Block Biofilms, and Resist Enzymes Better Than Standard Antimicrobial Peptides

Weizmann Institute of Science researchers reported in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry on October 17, 2026 that adding isopeptide bonds and fatty-acid tails to antimicrobial peptides produced lipo-isopeptides that resisted breakdown by protein-cutting enzymes and were most active against the yeast Candida albicans. The lead compound, C8-Amp1EP, was non-toxic in their tests, reduced fungal attachment and biofilm formation when coated on surfaces and cells, disrupted the fungal membrane, and was less likely than standard antifungal drugs to select for resistance during repeated exposure. The work is in the lab.

#antimicrobial-peptides #antifungal #candida #preclinical
Research

Retuned Cyclic Peptide PET Probe Targets the Kidney Cancer Marker CAIX With Less Gut Uptake in Mice

Researchers at Beijing University of Technology and the radiopharmaceutical company HTA reported in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry on October 17, 2026 two gallium-68 cyclic peptide probes, WF1 and WF2, built to image carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX), a marker of clear cell kidney cancer. Changing the peptide's ring-closing linker kept nanomolar binding to CAIX while sharply reducing binding to the related enzyme CAII, which made the earlier probe 68Ga-DPI-4452 accumulate in the digestive tract. In mice with kidney tumors, tumor uptake matched the older probe with less gut signal, and the probes bound human kidney cancer tissue samples; they have not been tested in patients.

#peptide-imaging #cyclic-peptide #kidney-cancer #preclinical
Research

Semaglutide Linked to Lower Psoriasis Scores Alongside Weight Loss in 33 Italian Patients Over 18 Months

Dermatologists at the Sapienza University of Rome's Latina campus reported in the Journal of Clinical Medicine on October 16, 2026 a retrospective review of 33 adults with obesity and mild to moderate psoriasis who took semaglutide for 18 months. Average PASI, a psoriasis severity score, fell from 9.31 to 5.05, BMI from 32.5 to 28.4, and blood inflammation markers also dropped; 57.6% had mild, short-lived stomach side effects and none stopped treatment. The single-center study had no comparison group, so it cannot separate the drug's effect from weight loss or other care.

#semaglutide #psoriasis #real-world-evidence

Related Guides