Amphipathic glycopeptides

1. An amphipathic glycopeptide, the amino acid sequence of which comprises an N-terminal opioid message sequence, a C-terminal helical address sequence, and a linker sequence between the message sequence and the helical address sequence, wherein

the C-terminal helical address sequence has a length of nine amino acids, and

at least one of the amino acid residues of the peptide is glycosylated.

2. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , wherein the N-terminal opioid message sequence is Y-t-G-F- or Y-a-G-F-.

3. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , wherein the N-terminal opioid message sequence is Y-t-G-F-L-P-.

4. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , wherein the N-terminal opioid message sequence is Y-t-G-F-L-βA-.

5. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , wherein the N-terminal opioid message sequence is Y-t-G-F-L-G-G-.

6. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is a glycosylated enkephalin.

7. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is a glycosylated endorphin.

8. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which adopts a helical conformation in the presence of a lipid bilayer.

9. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is substantially non-helical in water in the absence of a lipid bilayer.

10. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is substantially non-helical in water in the absence of a lipid bilayer and adopts a helical conformation in the presence of a lipid bilayer.

11. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , wherein one amino acid residue is glycosylated.

12. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , wherein two amino acid residues are glycosylated.

13. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises at least one serine residue that is glycosylated.

14. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises 2 serine residues that are glycosylated.

15. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is glycosylated with a glycosyl unit having at most 8 saccharide units.

16. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is glycosylated with a glycosyl unit having at most 4 saccharide units.

17. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is glycosylated with a glycosyl unit having at most 2 saccharide units.

18. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is glycosylated with a glycosyl unit having at most 1 saccharide unit.

19. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which contains one serine glucoside residue.

20. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which contains 2 serine glucoside residues.

21. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises at least 14 amino acid residues.

22. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises at least 15 amino acid residues.

23. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises at least 17 amino acid residues.

24. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises at least 19 amino acid residues.

25. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which comprises at most 60 amino acid residues.

26. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which has at most 5% helicity as measured by circular dichroism in water and at least 10% helicity in the presence of a lipid bilayer.

27. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which crosses the blood-brain-barrier.

28. The glycopeptide of claim 1 , which is selective for at least one receptor selected from the group consisting of the delta opioid receptor, mu opioid receptor and kappa opioid receptor.

29. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the glycopeptide of claim 1 and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and/or excipient.

30. A method of relieving pain, comprising administering an effective amount of the glycopeptide of claim 1 to a subject in need thereof.

31. A method of providing analgesia, comprising administering an effective amount of the glycopeptide of claim 1 to a subject in need thereof.

32. A method of treating anxiety, depression, obesity, anorexia nervosa, phobias, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease, comprising administering an effective amount of the glycopeptide of claim 1 to a subject in need thereof.