脓毒症是一种严重的全身炎症反应综合征，临床上常见于感染、大面积烧伤和外科术后患者；可继发脓毒性休克及多器官功 能衰竭，病死率高，预后较差，目前尚无有效的治疗手段。传统的抗生素在杀伤细菌的过程中可使脂多糖等致炎因子大量释放入血， 进一步加剧免疫系统的失调，而近年来多重耐药菌的出现更是为脓毒症的治疗带来严峻的挑战。抗菌肽是一类两亲性阳离子多肽，对 细菌、真菌及病毒等具有广泛的杀伤作用，同时能够中和内毒素，并通过其免疫调节作用抑制炎症细胞因子的产生，在脓毒症的治疗 中展现出了良好的应用前景。该文综述了抗菌肽在脓毒症治疗中的应用进展及相关分子机制。

Sepsis is a severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and is common in the patients with infection, extensive burn injury and major surgery. As it may cause multiple organ dysfunction and septic shock, it is always accompanied with high mortality and poor prognosis. Currently there’s no effective medication available for treatment of sepsis. During the process of killing bacteria, the classical antibiotics lead to release of a large quantity of proinflammatory cytokines, such as lipopolysaccharide, which exacerbates the malfunction of immune system. Furthermore, the growing number of multiresistant bacteria present a new challenge to the management of sepsis. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small, cationic, and amphipathic peptides with broad-spectrum microbicidal activity against bacteria, fungi and viruses. In addition, they also can neutralize endotoxin and suppress inflammatory cascade through multiple immunomodulation, which potentially serves as a promising alternative approach for sepsis treatment. This review briefly summarizes the progress of AMPs in the treatment of sepsis as well as the relevant mechanisms.