The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
The urinary tract functions in close proximity to the outside environment, yet must remain free of microbial colonization to avoid disease. The mechanisms for establishing an antimicrobial barrier in this area are not completely understood. Here, we…
The presence of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides provides an important mechanism for prevention of infection against a wide variety of microbial pathogens. The activity of cathelicidin is controlled by enzymatic processing of the proform (hCAP18 i…
An in vitro antibiotic susceptibility assay for Staphylococcus aureus biofilms developed on 96-well polystyrene tissue culture plates was performed to elucidate the activity of the 27 residues cathelicidin peptide BMAP-28, quinupristin/dalfopristin (…
Cathelicidin genes homologous to the human CAMP gene, coding for the host defense peptide LL-37, have been sequenced and analyzed in 20 primate species, including Great Apes, hylobatidae, cercopithecidae, callithricidae, and cebidae. The region corre…
Accumulating evidence suggests that intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) constitutively express the immunoregulatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-18. IECs also serve as the host cell for the intracellular parasitic protozoan Cryptosporidium parvum. In the…
BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are characterized by a breakdown of colon epithelial barrier function. Antimicrobial peptides like cathelicidins are molecules of the innate immune system located at epithelial surfaces. Cathelicidins in…
PURPOSE: The goals of this study were to examine the expression of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in the corneal epithelium during wound healing and to investigate whether LL-37 stimulates human corneal epithelial cell (HCEC) migration, proliferatio…
Cathelicidins comprise a family of antimicrobial peptides sharing a highly conserved cathelin domain. Here we report that the entire chicken genome encodes three cathelicidins, namely fowlicidin-1 to -3, which are densely clustered within a 7.5-kb di…
The antimicrobial protein cathelicidin is considered to play an important role in the defense mechanisms against bacterial infection. Recent studies show that sodium butyrate induces cathelicidin gene expression in human colonic, gastric and hepatic…
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is associated with eczema vaccinatum (EV), a disseminated viral skin infection that follows inoculation with vaccinia virus (VV). This study examined whether AD skin can control VV replication, and the role of IL-4 and IL-13 in…
The human cathelicidin LL-37 is a cationic host defense peptide (antimicrobial peptide) expressed primarily by neutrophils and epithelial cells. This peptide, up-regulated under conditions of inflammation, has immunomodulatory and antimicrobial funct…
Interaction of the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 with lipid monolayers has been investigated by a range of complementary techniques including pressure-area isotherms, insertion assay, epifluorescence microscopy, and synchrotron x-ray scattering,…
The cathelicidin-derived antimicrobial tritrpticin could be classified as either Trp-rich or Pro/Arg-rich peptide. We recently found that the sequence modification of tritrpticin focused on Trp and Pro residues led to considerable change in structure…
Cathelicidin, a cationic host defense peptide, has been shown to promote cutaneous wound repair and reaches high levels in the gastric mucosa during infection and inflammation. Therefore, we investigated whether this peptide contributes to gastric ul…
To understand the structure and activity relationship of human LL-37, a series of peptide fragments was designed. The N-terminal fragment, LL-37(1-12), was not active, while the C-terminal fragment, LL-37(13-37), killed Escherichia coli, as well as d…
Cathelicidin synthesized by bone marrow cells plays an important role in neutralizing invading pathogens. In the present study, the myeloid cathelicidin cDNA from Bubalus bubalis has been cloned and characterized. RNA from bone marrow of buffalo ribs…
OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to characterize the role of the human cathelicidin LL-37 in fungal skin infections such as dermatophytosis and tinea versicolor. METHODS: The in vitro antimicrobial activity of synthetic antimicrobial peptides incl…
The active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25[OH](2)D(3)) is a potent immunomodulatory seco-steroid. We have demonstrated that several components of vitamin D metabolism and signaling are strongly expressed in human uterine decidua f…
Host defence peptides are a conserved component of the innate immune response in all complex life forms. In humans, the major classes of host defence peptides include the alpha- and beta-defensins and the cathelicidin, hCAP-18/LL-37. These peptides a…
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the in vitro antifungal activity of the structurally different cathelicidin peptides SMAP-29, BMAP-27, BMAP-28, protegrin-1 (PG-1) and indolicidin. METHODS: The in vitro antifungal and fungicidal activities of these antimic…