The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
The human cathelicidin peptide LL-37 is a multifunctional immunomodulatory and antimicrobial host defense peptide of the human immune system. LL-37 modulates host cell responses to microbial stimuli and also affects the action of other endogenous imm…
Macrophages are unique innate immune cells that play an integral role in the defense of the host by virtue of their ability to recognize, engulf, and kill pathogens while sending out danger signals via cytokines to recruit and activate inflammatory c…
BACKGROUND: Cellular prion-related protein (PrP(c)) is a cell-surface protein that is ubiquitously expressed in the human body. The multifunctionality of PrP(c), and presence of an exposed cationic and heparin-binding N-terminus, a feature characteri…
Proteolysis is a common microbial virulence mechanism that enables the destruction of host tissue and evasion from host defense mechanisms. Antimicrobial peptides, also known as host defense peptides, are effector molecules of the innate immunity tha…
Cathelicidins are CHDP with essential roles in innate host defense but also more recently associated with the pathogenesis of certain chronic diseases. These peptides have microbicidal potential and the capacity to modulate innate immunity and inflam…
The innate defense of the skin against microbial threats is influenced by antimicrobial proteins (AMP). Staphylococcus aureus often colonizes the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). This was explained by diminished expression of AMP includi…
Factor H-binding protein (fHBP; GNA1870) is one of the antigens of the recombinant vaccine against serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis, which has been developed using reverse vaccinology and is the basis of a meningococcal B vaccine entering phase III…
The human cathelicidin LL-37 displays both direct antibacterial activities and the capacity to modulate host-cell activities. These depend on structural characteristics that are subject to positive selection for variation, as observed in a previous a…
LL-37 is a human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide that is released in the skin after injury and acts to defend against infection and modulate the local cellular immune response. We observed in human dermal keloids that fibrosis was inversely relate…
The human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide LL-37 is involved in various aspects of skin biology, including protection against infection, wound healing, and also in psoriasis. The tight regulation of apoptosis is critical in tissue repair and its de…
Dermcidin (DCD) is an antimicrobial peptide which is constitutively expressed in eccrine sweat glands. By postsecretory proteolytic processing in sweat, the DCD protein gives rise to anionic and cationic DCD peptides with a broad spectrum of antimicr…
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) such as defensins and cathelicidins are small peptides with broad-spectrum activity against bacteria, fungi and viruses. In addition, several AMPs modulate mammalian cell behaviours including migration, proliferation and…
The innate immunity to pathogenic invasion of organisms in the plant and animal kingdoms relies upon cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as the first line of defense. In addition to these natural peptide antibiotics, similar cationic peptides, suc…
Molecular mechanisms underlying the generation of reactive oxygen species in LL-37-stimulated cells are poorly understood. Previously, we demonstrated that in human fibroblasts the exposure to WKYMVm induced p47(phox) phosphorylation and translocatio…
Deaths during the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic have been linked to both the influenza virus and secondary bacterial lung infections. Case fatality rates and percentage of influenza cases complicated by pneumonia were available from survey data for tw…
LL-37, the only member of the cathelicidin family of cationic host defence peptides in humans, has been shown to mediate multiple immunomodulatory effects and as such is thought to be an important component of innate immune responses. A growing body…
M1 protein contributes to Group A Streptococcus (GAS) systemic virulence by interfering with phagocytosis and through proinflammatory activities when released from the cell surface. Here we identify a novel role of M1 protein in the stimulation of ne…
BACKGROUND: Little information is available the role of Nitric Oxide (NO) in host defenses during human tuberculosis (TB) infection. We investigated the modulating factor(s) affecting NO synthase (iNOS) induction in human macrophages. METHODS: Both i…