The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
Recent evidence suggests that inflammatory molecules play critical roles in the development and progression of numerous tumors. However, one specific group of inflammatory molecules whose importance has been established in host immune responses, term…
Neutropenia as a consequence of bone marrow failure, severe infections, or intensive chemotherapy is frequently associated with life-threatening sepsis. Ex vivo expansion of CD34(+) stem cells has been shown to generate apparently functional neutroph…
BACKGROUND: Modification of teichoic acids with D-alanine by the products of the dlt operon protects Gram-positive bacteria against major antimicrobial host defense molecules such as defensins, cathelicidins, myeloperoxidase or phospholipase. The gra…
Cathelicidins are antimicrobial peptides, well studied in mammals and found to be multifunctional proteins, important in the fight against bacterial invasion. Cathelicidins in fish have only recently been identified and little is known about their fu…
Medical literature is rich with new and relevant information, resulting from basic or applied research. Some strong arguments are presented in this document. Firstly, the discovery and role of a virus, the polyomavirus, in the development of Merkel t…
BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial peptides, such as defensin and cathelicidin, have recently been reported to play important roles in host defence and in cutaneous innate immunity. Although beta-defensin-2 has been reported to be downregulated in the skin of…
Cathelicidins play a pivotal role in innate immunity, providing a first barrier against bacterial infections at both mucosal and systemic sites. In this work, we have investigated the mechanisms by which Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) surv…
OBJECTIVES: Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAPs) are the effector molecules of innate immunity, similar in potency to classic antibiotics that function in the first-line of defence against infectious agents. The purpose of this study was to investi…
The action of antibacterial cathelicidin peptide CAP11 on the anandamide production from mononuclear phagocytes was examined. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulation induced the anandamide production from macrophage-like RAW264.7, accompanied with the e…
Chronic neutropenia comprises several different diseases that vary in degree of severity and management. We analysed the levels of the neutrophil-derived protein pro-LL-37 in plasma of patients with chronic neutropenia to assess whether it could be u…
The antimicrobial peptide LL-37 is the only cathelicidin that has been described in humans. LL-37 exerts chemotactic, immunomodulatory and angiogenic effects; activities that are mediated through binding to the formyl peptide receptor like (FPRL)-1 r…
Antimicrobial peptides are universal host defense membrane-targeting molecules in a variety of life forms. Structure elucidation provides important insight into the mechanism of action. Here we present the three-dimensional structure of a membrane pe…
PURPOSE: Human ocular surface epithelia express four antimicrobial peptides (APs): beta -defensin (hBD) 1-3 and LL-37. Here the expression of additional APs (hBD 4-6, HE2beta 1; histatin-1, -3; liver expressed antimicrobial peptide-1, -2; macrophage…
BACKGROUND: Fungus is thought to play an important role in some subgroups of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients with eosinophilic mucus (EMCRS). The cathelicidin LL-37 is an important innate defense peptide with antimicrobial activity but its resp…
Cathelicidin, an antimicrobial peptide of the innate immune system, modulates microbial growth, wound healing, and inflammation. However, its association with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) is unknown. Our objective was to determine whether cathe…
Antibiotics are designed to support host defense in controlling infection. Here we describe a paradoxical inhibitory effect of bacteriostatic antibiotics on key mediators of mammalian innate immunity. When growth of species including Escherichia coli…
Gingival innate immunity has been studied by using biopsies and normal or transformed epithelial cell monolayers. To overcome individual biological variabilities and as a physiological alternative, we have proposed using a reconstructed tissue equiva…
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a highly pruritic, chronic, multifactorial skin disease predisposing to bacterial and viral infections based on abnormalities of the innate and acquired immune system. The innate system quickly mobilizes an inflexible, stand…