The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
BACKGROUND: An incomplete understanding of bone forming cells during wound healing and ectopic calcification has led to a search for circulating cells that may fulfill this function. Previously, we showed that monoosteophils, a novel lineage of calci…
Host defence peptides (HDPs) are expressed throughout the animal and plant kingdoms. They have multifunctional roles in the defence against infectious agents of mammals, possessing both bactericidal and immune-modulatory activities. We have identifie…
Antimicrobial peptides represent an important aspect of the innate defense system that contributes to the control of bacterial colonization and infection. As studies have progressed it has become clear that antimicrobial peptides manifest other funct…
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major worldwide health problem in part due to the lack of development of new treatments and the emergence of new strains such as multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant strains that are threatening and impairin…
TNF-α is a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation and regulation of immune cells. It is produced chiefly by activated macrophages as a membrane or secreted form. In rainbow trout, two TNF-α molecules were described previously. In this article, we…
Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) represent an ancient defense mechanism against invading bacteria, with peptides such as the cathelicidins being essential elements of vertebrate innate immunity. CAMPs are typically associated with broad-spectr…
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) play pivotal roles in the innate defense of vertebrates. A novel AMP (cathelicidin-PY) has been identified from the skin secretions of the frog Paa yunnanensis . Cathelicidin-PY has an amino acid sequence of RKCNFLCKLKEK…
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) that are released from Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria can serve as vehicles for the translocation of effectors involved in infectious processes. In this study we have investigated the role of OMVs of the Vibrio chole…
The innate immune system utilizes many approaches for defense against invading microorganisms, including complement-mediated lysis, engulfment, formation of neutrophil extracellular traps, and release of antimicrobial peptides. Although classically t…
The increasing resistance of bacteria to conventional antibiotics and the challenges posed by intracellular bacteria, which may be responsible for chronic and recurrent infections, have driven the need for advanced antimicrobial drugs for effective e…
OBJECTIVE: LL-37, the unique cathelicidin expressed in humans, in addition to acting as an endogenous antibiotic, is an important cell-signaling molecule upregulated in ovarian, breast, and lung tumors. However, the role of LL-37 in tumor microenviro…
BACKGROUND: We earlier showed that 4-phenylbutyrate (PB) can induce cathelicidin LL-37 expression synergistically with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in a lung epithelial cell line. We aimed to evaluate a therapeutic dose of PB alone or in combination with…
Postpartum, infants have not yet established a fully functional adaptive immune system and are at risk of acquiring infections. Hence, newborns are dependent on the innate immune system with its antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and proteins expressed at…
LL-37 is an antimicrobial peptide produced by human cells that can down-regulate the lipopolysaccharide-induced innate immune responses and up-regulate double-stranded (ds) RNA-induced innate responses through Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3). The murine…
In sepsis, the vitamin D active metabolite 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D) may play a crucial role by its action to produce cathelicidin and improve endothelial barrier function, such that a deficiency in 1,25(OH)2D is associated with poor outco…
INTRODUCTION: The presence of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC) and histological chorioamnionitis (HCA) is associated with adverse neonatal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (pPROM). Therefore…
BACKGROUND: The domestic pig is known as an excellent model for human immunology and the two species share many pathogens. Susceptibility to infectious disease is one of the major constraints on swine performance, yet the structure and function of ge…
AIM: To determine the levels of LL-37 in and its susceptibility to degradation by components of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) in periodontal health and disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Levels of LL-37 in GCF from periodontitis patients and periodont…
Staphylococcus aureus infections present an enormous global health concern complicated by an alarming increase in antibiotic resistance. S. aureus is among the few bacterial species that express nitric-oxide synthase (bNOS) and thus can catalyze NO p…
Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is an "endocrine" FGF acting in the kidney as a phosphaturic hormone and a suppressor of active vitamin D, through an inhibition of the 1α hydroxylase and a stimulation of the 24 hydroxylase. Beyond its well-known…