The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
The cathelin-like domain (CLD) of cathelicidins is grouped in the same superfamily with cystatins, natural cysteine protease inhibitors, due to their structural similarity. Intriguingly, human hCAP-18/LL37 and pig protegrin-3 (PG3) CLDs exhibit oppos…
Skin, the first barrier against invading microorganisms, is hypoxic, even under baseline conditions. The transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha, the principal regulator of cellular adaptation to low oxygen, is strongly expre…
As the main difference between bacterial and mammalian cell membranes is their net charge, the focal point of consideration in many model membrane experiments with antimicrobial peptides is lipid headgroup charge. We studied the interaction of the hu…
Sterols impart significant changes to the biophysical properties of lipid bilayers. In this regard the impact of cholesterol on membrane organization and dynamics is particularly well documented and serves for comparison with other sterols. However,…
OBJECTIVES: The susceptibility of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), to host-derived cationic antimicrobial peptides was investigated. METHODS: We examined the susceptibility of 190 clinical…
The recent discovery--from a meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials--that supplemental cholecalciferol (vitamin D) significantly reduces all-cause mortality emphasizes the medical, ethical, and legal implications of promptly diagnosing and…
BACKGROUND: Local and volatile anesthetics are widely used for surgery. It is not known whether anesthetics impinge on the orchestrated events in spontaneous resolution of acute inflammation. Here we investigated whether a commonly used local anesthe…
It is widely accepted, that stress can induce or exacerbate atopic dermatitis. The physiological mechanisms that mediate this negative influence of stress on atopic dermatitis are not clearly understood. This topic has been actively investigated in r…
A promising therapeutic strategy for the management of severe Pseudomonas infection in neutropenic patients may result from the coadministration of colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) that help maintain immune competence and antimicrobial peptides, a n…
The human gland of Moll located at the margin of the eyelids is a specialized apocrine gland, the function of which is not exactly known. The presence of antimicrobial proteins was identified in this gland recently, suggesting a function in the exter…
BACKGROUND: Septic shock includes blood vessel dilatation and activation of innate immunity, which in turn causes release of antimicrobial peptides such as LL-37. It has been shown that LL-37 can attract leucocytes via the lipoxin A(4) receptor (ALX,…
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Clostridium difficile toxins A and B are major virulence factors implicated in pseudomembranous colitis and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The toxins are glucosyltransferases, which inactivate Rho proteins involved in cellular sig…
LL-37 is the only cathelicidin-derived polypeptide found in humans. Its eclectic function makes this peptide one of the most intriguing chemical defense agents, with crucial roles in moderating inflammation, promoting wound healing, and boosting the…
Neutrophils represent the most common granulocyte subtype present in blood. The short half-life of circulating neutrophils is regulated by spontaneous apoptosis, and tissue infiltrating neutrophils die by apoptosis and secondary necrosis. The mechani…
Gene therapy for gastric cancer and gastric ulcer is a rationalized strategy since various genes correlate with these diseases. Since gene expressions in non-target tissues/cells cause side effects, a selective gene delivery system targeted to the st…
The surface of our skin is constantly challenged by a wide variety of microbial pathogens, still cutaneous infections are relatively rare. Within cutaneous innate immunity the production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a primary system for protec…
The antimicrobial cathelicidin LL-37 is considered to play an important role in the innate immune response to tuberculosis infection. However, little is known about the induction and secretion of this antimicrobial peptide in A549 epithelial cells af…
INTRODUCTION: During periodontitis, an innate immune response to bacterial challenge is primarily mediated by neutrophils. We compared neutrophilic content and the level of neutrophil-derived antimicrobial peptides in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF)…
The ability to form biofilms is a critical factor in chronic infections by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and has made this bacterium a model organism with respect to biofilm formation. This study describes a new, previously unrecognized role for the human c…
From among 15 human cathelicidin LL-37-derived peptides, FK-13 was identified as the smallest peptide active against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and GI-20 had the highest therapeutic index, which was twice that of LL-37. BMAP-18, which is deri…