Background: Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major is one of the most important parasitic diseases in humans. First line drugs including antimoniales are insufficient due to resistance in endemic areas and high toxicity. Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are novel potential drugs for the treatment of drug-resistant infections. CM11 is one of these small peptides includes 11residue sequence have been designed and produced in vitro. The purpose of this study was to assess the anti-leishmanial effect of CM11 against amastigotes forms of Leishmania major by Real-time PCR. Materials and methods: RAW264.7 macrophages were infected by stationary phase of promastigotes of L.major, then treatment with CM11 peptide solutions were performed at concentration of (8,16,32 µM) for 24, 48 and 72h. Absolute SYBR GreenI-based Real-time PCR was performed using with specific primers for DNApol gene as well as β-actin as housekeeping. Results: The result showed that 16 µM was the best concentration in which the lowest copy number of parasites were present all time points (24,48, and 72h) in macrophages. Conclusion: Antimicrobial activity of CM11 peptide, a short cecropin-melittin hybride peptide, may provide an alternative therapeutic approach for L. major treatment.

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