The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
Trapping in the endosomes is currently believed to represent the main barrier for transfection. Peptides, which allow endosomal escape have been demonstrated to overcome this barrier, similarly to the entry of viruses. However, the design principles…
BACKGROUND: Vitamin D insufficiency could be associated with the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVE: To examine vitamin D status and the relations between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, SCORAD score, serum LL-37 level, and body mass i…
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) play a critical role in innate host defense against microbial pathogens in many organisms. The human cathelicidin, LL-37, has a net positive charge and is amphiphilic, and can eliminate pathogenic microbes directly via e…
IL-10 and calcitriol help to achieve a successful pregnancy by suppressing active maternal immunity; however, these factors exert opposite effects upon microbial infections. In the skin and immune cells, IL-10 downregulates β-defensins while calcitri…
BACKGROUND: Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increase the decline in lung function, deterioration in health status and risk of death. The assessment of exacerbation risk is important in the grading of COPD. The most commo…
Infiltration by macrophages represents a characteristic morphological hallmark in high-grade lymphatic malignancies such as Burkitt's lymphoma (BL). Although macrophages can, in principle, target neoplastic cells and mediate antibody-dependent cellul…
INTRODUCTION: Incomplete human extravillous trophoblast (EVT) invasion of the decidua and maternal spiral arteries is characteristic of pre-eclampsia, a condition linked to low maternal vitamin D status. It is hypothesized that dysregulated vitamin D…
Cathelicidins (CATHs) are a family of endogenous antimicrobial peptides that are capable of both direct bacteria-killing and immunomodulatory effects. P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) is a mediator of CATH in mammalian immune cells. Here, we studied the functio…
The erythroid differentiation regulator 1 (Erdr1), which is a novel and highly conserved factor, was recently reported to be negatively regulated by IL-18 and to play a crucial role as an antimetastatic factor. IL-18 is a proinflammatory cytokine tha…
Constant cross talk between Candida albicans yeast cells and their human host determines the outcome of fungal colonization and, eventually, the progress of infectious disease (candidiasis). An effective weapon used by C. albicans to cope with the ho…
BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, visible light, or infrared light therapy for the treatment of acne is the subject of ongoing scientific debate. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate changes in sebum productio…
Enterococci that are nonsusceptible (NS; MIC > 4 μg/ml) to daptomycin are an emerging clinical concern. The synergistic combination of daptomycin plus beta-lactams has been shown to be effective against vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) species…
IL-18 is known to play a key role limiting Cryptosporidium parvum infection. In this study, we show that IL-18 depletion in SCID mice significantly exacerbates C. parvum infection, whereas, treatment with recombinant IL-18 (rIL-18), significantly dec…
Antibiotic resistance poses an increasingly grave threat to the public health. Of pressing concern, rapid spread of carbapenem-resistance among multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative rods (GNR) is associated with few treatment options and high morta…
The human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 is known to have chemotactic and modulatory activities on various cells including monocytes, T cells, and epithelial cells. Given that LL-37 enhances chemotactic attraction and modulates the activity of DCs, it i…
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…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: High levels of the antimicrobial peptide, LL-37, are detected in gingival crevicular fluid from patients with chronic periodontitis. LL-37 not only shows antimicrobial activity but also affects host-cell viability. The objec…
Human monocytes activated by toll-like receptor 2/1 ligand (TLR2/1L) show enhanced expression of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the vitamin D-activating enzyme 1α-hydroxylase (CYP27B1). The resulting intracrine conversion of precursor 25-hydroxyvit…
LL-37 is a cationic peptide belonging to the cathelicidin family that has antimicrobial and immune-modulatory properties. Here we show that the mammalian mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase-1 (ART1), which selectively transfers the ADP-ribose moiety from NAD…
Interactions between a host and a bacterial pathogen are mediated by cross-talk between molecules present on, or secreted by, pathogens and host binding-molecules. Identifying proteins involved at this interface would provide substantial insights int…