The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
The emergence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains has led to the development of new antituberculous agents. In this context, antimicrobial targeting proteins to the cell membrane are interesting due to the avoidance of the plasm…
Candida albicans colonization is required for invasive disease. Unlike humans, adult mice with mature intact gut microbiota are resistant to C. albicans gastrointestinal (GI) colonization, but the factors that promote C. albicans colonization resista…
Cathelicidins are a gene family best known for their antimicrobial action, but the diverse mature peptides they encode also have other host defense functions. The human cathelicidin peptide LL-37 enhances recognition of nucleic acids, an action whose…
The pleiotropic activity of human cathelicidin LL-37 peptide includes an ability to suppress development of colon cancer cells. We hypothesized that the anticancer activity of LL-37 would improve when attached to the surface of magnetic nanoparticles…
Antimicrobial peptides are multifunctional effector molecules of innate immunity. In this study we investigated whether endothelial cells actively contribute to innate defense mechanisms by expression of antimicrobial peptides. We therefore stimulate…
We report the design, synthesis and antibacterial activity analysis of conjugates of vancomycin and cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptides (CRAMP). Vancomycin inhibits the nascent peptidoglycan synthesis and is highly active against Gram-positiv…
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cathelicidin (LL-37 in human and mCRAMP in mice) represents a family of endogenous antimicrobial peptides with anti-inflammatory effects. LL-37 also suppresses collagen synthesis, an important fibrotic response, in dermal fibrobl…
PEGylating is an effective way for prolonging the half-time period and decreasing the immunogenicity of protein drugs. With experiments of single factor, it was proved that the optimal processes for PEGylating the fused protein of LL-37 and interfero…
OBJECTIVES: The tumour stroma/microenvironment not only provides structural support for tumour development, but more importantly it provides cues to cancer stem cells (CSCs) that regulate their self-renewal and metastatic potential. This is certainly…
Tuberculosis is one of the most important infectious diseases worldwide. The susceptibility to this disease depends to a great extent on the innate immune response against mycobacteria. Host defense peptides (HDP) are one of the first barriers to cou…
Bacterial proteases are important virulence factors that inactivate host defense proteins and contribute to tissue destruction and bacterial dissemination. Outer membrane proteases of the omptin family, exemplified by Escherichia coli OmpT, are found…
BACKGROUND: Oral biofilms are the causative agents of the highly prevalent oral diseases periodontitis and caries. Additionally, the host immune response is thought to play a critical role in disease onset. Neutrophils are known to be a key host resp…
Cathelicidins are short cationic host defense peptides and play a central role in host innate immune system. Here we identified two novel cathelicidins, Cl-CATH2 and 3, from Columba livia. Evolutionary analysis of avian cathelicidins via phylogenetic…
Urinary tract infections are highly common during pregnancy, and can cause serious complications for the mother and baby. Vitamin D, predominantly obtained from the sunlight, is known to have an effect on the urothelium, with immunomodulatory capacit…
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and cathelicidin levels on pelvic inflammatory disease [PID] in reproductive aged women. METHODS: A total of 81 reproductive aged women, 43 with PID and 38…
Cathelicidins, a family of antimicrobial peptides, are well known for their role in host defense, particularly against bacteria. Apart from direct killing of microbes through the membrane disruption, cathelicidins can also exert immunomodulatory effe…
Virulent group A streptococci have become a serious threat, with the emergence of the hypervirulent lineage M1T1. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, LaRock et al. (2015), uncover a role for the streptococcal M1 protein in neutralizing a key human…
N-formyl peptide receptors (FPR1, FPR2 and FPR3) are involved in innate immunity, inflammation and cancer. FPR expression, initially described in immune cells, was later observed in non-hematopoietic cell populations and tissues. Several studies sugg…
Parasitic worms (helminths) reside in their mammalian hosts for many years. This is attributable, in part, to their ability to skew the host's immune system away from pro-inflammatory responses and towards anti-inflammatory or regulatory responses. T…
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) within gene promoter region or enhancers can modify the transcription rate of genes related to complex diseases. These SNPs can be called regulatory SNPs (rSNPs). Da…