New Progress in Peptide Drugs
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 23
Special Issue Editor
2. Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Biochemistry, Cellular Biology Department, Biological Sciences Institute, University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70910-900, DF, Brazil
Interests: amphibians; peptide chemistry; antimicrobial peptides; peptide synthesis; peptide analogues; neurotoxic peptides; scorpions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The upcoming Special Issue New Progress in Peptide Drugs will showcase recent advances in the discovery, design, synthesis, and clinical application of therapeutic peptides. Peptides are emerging as a powerful class of drugs due to their high specificity, favorable safety profile, and broad therapeutic potential. Clinically approved peptides such as semaglutide, tirzepatide, buserelin, and abaloparatide have demonstrated success in treating metabolic, oncological, and endocrine disorders. The commercial prominence of semaglutide (Ozempic®/Wegovy®) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) reflects the increasing investment in multifunctional peptides and their promise as key therapeutic agents for complex metabolic diseases. This progress has been made possible through innovations in solid-phase synthesis, chemical modification strategies (e.g., PEGylation, cyclization, D-amino acid substitution), and novel delivery systems.
Potential topics for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Novel therapeutic peptides and mechanisms of action;
- Antimicrobial and antiviral peptides;
- Peptide-based therapeutics for cancer treatment;
- Advances in peptide synthesis and engineering;
- Peptide drug delivery systems;
- Computational peptide design and AI-driven discovery;
- Peptidomimetics and backbone modifications;
- Clinical or preclinical studies involving peptide candidates.
We invite researchers to contribute their findings and insights to advance the promissing field of peptide drugs.
Prof. Dr. Mariana S. Castro
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- novel therapeutic peptides
- peptide design
- antimicrobial
- anticancer
- drug delivery systems
- peptidomimetics
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