The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
Diarrhea is a leading cause of death among young mammals, especially during weaning. Here, we investigated the effects of Cathelicidin-WA (CWA) on diarrhea, intestinal morphology, inflammatory responses, epithelial barrier and microbiota in the intes…
Human labial glands secrete mucous and serous substances for maintaining oral health. The normal microbial flora of the oral cavity is regulated by the acquired and innate immune systems. The localization and distribution of proteins of the innate im…
UNLABELLED: Exchangeable apolipoproteins (ApoA, -C, and -E) have been shown to redundantly participate in the formation of infectious hepatitis C virus (HCV) particles during the assembly process, although their precise role in the viral life cycle i…
OBJECTIVE: Controversies exist regarding the relationship between the concentrations of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and presence of dental caries in children. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine levels of AMPs in saliva of caries-free (CF),…
BACKGROUND: Little information is available regarding vitamin D-associated factors in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung disease. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between vitamin D-related factors and susceptibility to NTM l…
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…
Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) is an important zoonotic pathogen. An emerging problem in treating S. aureus infections is the increasing resistance against antibiotics. A possible way to overcome this issue…
The influence of Escherichia coli rough lipopolysaccharide chemotype on the membrane activity of the mammalian antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) human cathelicidin (LL37) and bovine lactoferricin (LFb) was studied on bilayers using solid state (2)H NMR (…
There is consensus that inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are the result of "dysregulated" immune reactivity towards commensal microorganisms in the intestine. This gut microbiome is clearly altered in IBD, but its primary or secondary role is still…
Cigarette smoke (CS) exposure is a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We investigated whether CS-induced damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) release or DAMP-mediated inflammation contributes to susceptibility f…
The traditional Chinese medicine Chan-Su is widely used for treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, but also as a remedy for infections such as furunculosis, tonsillitis and acute pharyngitis. The clinical use of Chan-Su suggests that it has…
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are effector molecules of the innate immune system of the skin. They present an activity against a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as some fungi, parasites and enveloped viruses. Severa…
Increasing antibiotic resistance and ever stricter control on antibiotic use are a driving force to develop alternatives to antibiotics. One such strategy is the use of multifunctional Host Defense Peptides. Here we examined the protective effect of…
The hygiene hypothesis postulates that higher levels of cleanliness and improper exposure to microorganisms early in childhood could disturb the intestinal microbiome resulting in abnormal immune responses. Recently, more attention has been put on ho…
Increasing experimental evidence supports the idea that Mycobacterium tuberculosis has evolved strategies to survive within lysosomes of activated macrophages. To further our knowledge of M. tuberculosis response to the hostile lysosomal environment,…
Influenza A virus (IAV) remains a major threat that can cause severe morbidity and mortality due to rapid genomic variation. Resistance of IAVs to current anti-IAV drugs has been emerging, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been considered to be…
It has been reported that goat cathelicidin-2, an antimicrobial peptide, localizes in leukocytes and is present in milk. Here, we examined whether cathelicidin-2 is secreted by leukocytes. Different concentrations (10(5)-10(8) cells/mL) of blood leuk…
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of amniotic fluid (AF) matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) and cathelicidin concentrations with microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC) in pregnancies with preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes or in…
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…