The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
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…
Cathelicidin (hCAP-18/LL-37) and beta-defensin 1 (HBD-1) are human antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with high basal expression levels, which form the first line of host defence against infections over the epithelial surfaces. The antimicrobial functions…
Streptococcus salivarius is an early colonizer of human oral and nasopharyngeal epithelia, and strain K12 has reported probiotic effects. An emerging paradigm indicates that commensal bacteria downregulate immune responses through the action on NF-ka…
The effects of oxidatively modified phospholipids on the association with model biomembranes of four antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), temporin B and L, indolicidin, and LL-37(F27W) were studied by Langmuir balance and fluorescence spectroscopy. In keep…
Skin functions as a first line of defense against microbial invasion. Tissue-engineered cultured skin substitutes (CSS) are used to aid wound closure in massively burned patients, and have been used to facilitate safe and effective wound closure in a…
Proteomic analysis of bovine conceptus fluid proteins during early pregnancy has the potential to expose protein species indicative of both the overall health of the fetal-maternal environment and fetal developmental status. In this study, we examine…
Antimicrobial peptides are good leads to develop new antibiotics, but knowledge of their mode of action is a prerequisite. Destruction of the microbial membranes through a detergent-like mechanism is one of these modes of action. This is usually stud…
Mammalian antimicrobial peptides contribute to the protective barrier against microbes at epithelial surfaces. This study focuses on the promoter of the human CAMP gene, encoding the antimicrobial peptide LL-37, and induction of the gene in the colon…
The role of the pro-inflammatory peptide, LL-37, and its pro-form, human cationic antimicrobial protein 18 (hCAP-18), in cancer development and progression is poorly understood. In damaged and inflamed tissue, LL-37 functions as a chemoattractant, mi…
Mast cells (MC) express cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides that act as broad-spectrum antibiotics and influence the immune defense of multiple epithelial surfaces. We hypothesized that MC help protect against skin infection through the expression of…
Mucus forms the physical barrier along the gastrointestinal tract. It plays an important role to prevent mucosal damage and inflammation. Our animal study showed that antibacterial peptide 'cathelicidin' increased mucus thickness and prevented inflam…
The capacity of the skin and other organs to resist infection depends on the innate production of molecules known as antimicrobial peptides. Emerging evidence suggests that some of these peptides are important to immune defense by acting not only as…
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…
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…
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…
The innate immune response in human tuberculosis is not completely understood. To improve our knowledge regarding the role of cathelicidin hCAP-18/LL37 in the innate immune response to tuberculosis infection, we used immunohistochemistry, immunoelect…
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…
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…