The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
Papiliocin is a novel 37-residue cecropin-like peptide isolated recently from the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus. With the aim of identifying a potent antimicrobial peptide, we tested papiliocin in a variety of biological and biophysical assay…
Probiotic bacteria are administered as live microorganisms to provide a health benefit to the host. Insight into the adaptation factors that promote the survival and persistence of probiotics in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is important to unders…
Kallikrein-related peptidase-8 (KLK8) is a relatively uncharacterized epidermal protease. Although proposed to regulate skin-barrier desquamation and recovery, the catalytic activity of KLK8 was never demonstrated in human epidermis, and its regulato…
Large geographical variations in dental health and tooth loss among US adolescents and young adults have been reported since the mid-1800s. Studies in the 1920s and 1930s noted that vitamin D and ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance reduced caries formatio…
BACKGROUND: Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus) is a leading cause of sepsis and meningitis in newborns. Most bacterial pathogens, including gram-positive bacteria, have long filamentous structures known as pili extending from their surf…
Vitamin D plays a major role in bone mineral density and calcium homeostasis. Apart from its classical action, the active form of vitamin D [1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3))] influences the innate and adaptive immune functions through vit…
UNLABELLED: PURPOSE/AIM OF STUDY: To investigate the expression of endogenous antimicrobial peptides within the murine cornea during the onset and progression of posttraumatic keratomycosis caused by Candida albicans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Scarified…
We wanted to investigate if plasma levels of antimicrobial polypeptides (AMPs) are increased in severe sepsis and if they correlate with severity and mortality. Samples were collected from 31 sepsis patients at the intensive care unit. The Sequential…
AIM: To determine cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide LL37subcellular distribution in cord neutrophils and normal plasma LL37 levels in mothers and neonates, relate them to delivery mode and relevant biochemical markers, including 25-OHvitamin D [25(O…
Worldwide bacterial resistance to traditional antibiotics has drawn much research attention to naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) owing to their potential as alternative antimicrobials. Structural studies of AMPs are essential for an i…
The molecular processes of immune responses in mucosal tissues, such as the gills, during infection with bacterial pathogens are poorly understood. In the present study, we analyzed the transcriptional profiles of selected antibacterial genes and cyt…
BACKGROUND: Primary diagnostic cultures from patients with melioidosis demonstrate variation in colony morphology of the causative organism, Burkholderia pseudomallei. Variable morphology is associated with changes in the expression of a range of put…
The in vitro antimicrobial activities and biological effects on host cells were compared for the bovine cathelicidins BMAP-28, an alpha-helical AMP, and Bac5 and Bac7, proline-rich AMPs. Our results confirm that the broad-spectrum activity of BMAP-28…
Factor H binding protein (fHBP) is a surface-exposed lipoprotein in Neisseria meningitidis, which is a component of several investigational vaccines against serogroup B meningococcus (MenB) currently in development. fHBP enables the bacterium to evad…
Antimicrobial peptides are part of the innate immune system of many organ systems, yet little is known about their expression and function in the brain. The antibacterial cathelicidin rCRAMP in rats (homologue of the human LL-37) not only exhibits po…
Antimicrobial peptides play an important role in host defense against pathogens. Recently, phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs) from Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) were shown to interact with lipid membranes, form complexes, and exert antimicr…
The initiation of hyperinvasive disease in group A Streptococcus (GAS) serotype M1T1 occurs by mutation within the covRS two-component regulon (named covRS for control of virulence regulatory sensor kinase), which promotes resistance to neutrophil-me…
The antimicrobial peptide LL-37 is the only known member of the cathelicidin family of peptides expressed in humans. LL-37 is a multifunctional host defense molecule essential for normal immune responses to infection and tissue injury. LL-37 peptide…
The human cathelicidin LL-37, a pleiotropic host defense peptide, is down-regulated in gastric adenocarcinomas. We therefore investigated whether this peptide suppresses gastric cancer growth. LL-37 lowered gastric cancer cell proliferation and delay…