Harnessing antimicrobial peptides to engineer mosquito immunity against emerging vector-borne diseases

Abstract

A variety of emerging and re-emerging mosquito-borne infectious diseases, including malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika are expanding their geographic range and imposing an escalating burden on global public health. Effective vaccines or targeted therapeutics remain unavailable for most of these diseases. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a class of naturally occurring polypeptides, exhibit potent antiparasitic, antiviral, and antibacterial activities. Their unique modes of action, low toxicity, high target specificity, and broad-spectrum activity, make them as promising candidates for therapeutic development. Here, we review AMPs with demonstrated activity against mosquito-borne pathogens and evaluate their translational potential. We further outline next-generation intervention strategies that leverage artificial-intelligence-driven discovery, circular RNA expression platforms, CRISPR-based gene editing, engineered symbionts, and nanotechnology-enabled delivery systems, providing a roadmap for integrating AMP-based approaches into future public-health strategies.