The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
Carbamylation of lysine residues and protein N-termini is an ubiquitous, non-enzymatic post-translational modification. Carbamylation at sites of inflammation is due to cyanate formation during the neutrophil oxidative burst and may target lysine res…
As a broad-spectrum anti-microbial peptide, LL-37 plays an important role in the innate immune system. A series of previous reports implicates LL-37 as an activator of various cell surface receptor-mediated functions, including chemotaxis in integrin…
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of respiratory tract infection in infants, causing significant morbidity and mortality. No vaccine or specific, effective treatment is currently available. A more complete understanding of the key…
OBJECTIVES: The Gram-negative bacillus Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM) is an emerging MDR opportunistic pathogen. Recent studies identify a potentially relevant activity of azithromycin against Gram-negative bacteria overlooked in standard bacterio…
Staphylococcus aureus can live together in the form of biofilms to avoid elimination by the host. Thus, a useful strategy to counteract bacterial biofilms is to re-engineer human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 so that it can be used as a remedy for prev…
Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) are an essential part of the innate immune system. Some Gram-negative enteric pathogens, such asSalmonella enterica, show intrinsic resistance to CAMPs. However, the molecular basis of intrinsic resistance is p…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are web-like structures comprising DNA and antimicrobial proteins, expelled from neutrophils during NETosis. Persistence of NETs can be pro-inflammatory, yet their role in respiratory di…
UNLABELLED: Electronic (e)-cigarette use is rapidly rising, with 20 % of Americans ages 25-44 now using these drug delivery devices. E-cigarette users expose their airways, cells of host defense, and colonizing bacteria to e-cigarette vapor (EV). Her…
The antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin is critical for protection against different kinds of microbial infection. This study sought to elucidate the protective action of cathelicidin against Helicobacter pylori infection and its associated gastritis.…
Sheep myeloid antimicrobial peptide-29 (SMAP-29) is a cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide derived from sheep myeloid cells. In order to investigate the effects of L-to-D-amino acid substitution in SMAP-29 on bacterial selectivity, membrane int…
Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) is a cellular DNA-receptor widely expressed in cancers. We previously showed that synthetic and self-derived DNA fragments induce TLR9-mediated breast cancer cell invasion in vitro. We investigated here the invasive effect…
LL-37 is the only known member of the cathelicidin family of antimicrobial peptides in humans. In addition to its broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities, LL-37 can modulate various inflammatory reactions. We previously revealed that LL-37 suppres…
BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of severe lower respiratory tract illness in young children worldwide. Treatment options for severe RSV disease remain limited and the development of therapeutic treatment strategies rema…
Bacterial infections of the respiratory tract contribute to exacerbations and disease progression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There is also an increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease in COPD. The underlying mechanisms are…
The liver is a major organ that removes waste substances from the blood, and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) are professional scavenger cells, which incorporate and degrade various endogenous and exogenous molecules including pathogenic fa…
While many global mechanisms of innate immune responses to pathogen threat are conserved over a vast range of species, the details of those responses and their regulation appear to be highly species-specific. An array of studies over recent years has…
CONTEXT: Recent studies have shown that tolls like receptors (TLRs) and antimicrobial peptides (hBD-1, cathelicidin) play an important role in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris (AV). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and report the expression of TLR-2, TLR-4, h…
Broad-spectrum antimicrobials are needed to effectively treat patients infected in the event of a pandemic or intentional release of a pathogen prior to confirmation of the pathogen's identity. Engineered cationic antimicrobial peptides (eCAPs) displ…
As the most common fungal pathogen of humans, severe drug resistance has emerged in the clinically isolated Candida albicans, which lead to the urgency to develop novel antifungal agents. Here, four our previously characterized cathelicidins (catheli…
Traditionally, calcitriol has been considered a calcium and phosphate regulating hormone, but has recently been shown to play a pivotal role in innate immunity. Many barrier and immune cells have membrane and intracellular receptors that recognize di…