The only human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, playing key roles in innate immune defense, wound healing, and modulation of inflammatory responses.
Neutrophil granulocytes carry storage organelles, e.g., azurophil and specific granules. Poorly understood are the mechanisms for retrieval from constitutive secretion followed by sorting for storage. Therefore, we asked whether the specific granule…
Members of the cathelicidin family are present in all mammals studied. Generally, these proteins contain a conserved N-terminal domain and a structurally and functionally divergent C-terminal region that expresses antibacterial or other activities wh…
BACKGROUND: The innate immune system of human skin contains antimicrobial peptides known as cathelicidins (LL-37) and beta-defensins. In normal skin these peptides are negligible, but they accumulate in skin affected by inflammatory diseases such as…
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the antibacterial properties of cultured composite keratinocyte grafts can be enhanced by cytokines that stimulate the innate immune response. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Use of composite grafts of cultured keratinocytes…
PMAP-23 is a cathelicidin-derived antimicrobial peptide identified from porcine leukocytes. PMAP-23 was reported to show potent antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria without hemolytic activity. To study the structure…
The CD spectra of SMAP-29, an antimicrobial peptide from sheep, showed disordered structure in aqueous buffers, and significant helicity in membrane-like environments, including SDS micelles, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) dispersions, and trifluoroethanol…
BACKGROUND: LL-37 is a peptide belonging to the cathelicidin family of antimicrobial peptides. Recent investigations have suggested that the expression of antimicrobial peptides is an important mechanism for resistance to microbial infection. OBJECTI…
Hagfish intestinal antimicrobial peptides (HFIAPs) are a family of polycationic peptides exhibiting potent, broad-spectrum bactericidal activity. In an attempt to unravel the mechanism of action of HFIAPs, we have studied their interaction with model…
BACKGROUND: Antibacterial peptides, such as defensins and LL-37, are natural bactericidal components similar in potency to classic antibiotics. These peptides are produced at mucosal linings in the body and the skin, and by leucocytes such as neutrop…
Cathelicidins are antimicrobial peptides present in humans, and laboratory and domestic animals. These peptides are essential components of innate and acquired immune responses; however, little is known about cathelicidin gene regulation. To investig…
Antimicrobial peptides are important host-defense molecules of innate immunity. Cathelicidins are a diverse family of potent, rapidly acting and broadly effective antimicrobial peptides, which are produced by a variety of cells. This review examines…
Leukocytes accumulate at sites of inflammation and immunological reaction in response to locally existing chemotactic mediators. N-formyl peptides, such as fMet-Leu-Phe (fMLF), are some of the first identified and most potent chemoattractants for pha…
Cathelicidin peptides are a numerous group of mammalian cationic antimicrobial peptides. Despite a common evolutionary origin of their genes, peptides display a remarkable variety of sizes, sequences and structures. Their spectra of antimicrobial act…
Tritrpticin, a Trp-rich cationic antimicrobial peptide with a unique amino acid sequence (VRRFPWWWPFLRR), is found in porcine cathelicidin cDNA. Tritrpticin has a broad spectrum of antibacterial and antifungal activities and hemolytic activity compar…
PURPOSE: To determine the expression and production of antimicrobial peptides by mucosal cells of the lacrimal passage in healthy and pathologic states. METHODS: Detection of bactericidal-permeability-increasing protein (BPI), heparin-binding protein…
Rhesus monkey bone marrow expresses a cathelicidin whose C-terminal domain comprises a 37-residue alpha-helical peptide (RL-37) that resembles human LL-37. Like its human counterpart, RL-37 rapidly permeabilized the membranes of Escherichia coli ML-3…
PR-39 is a member of the proline-rich group of cathelicidin peptides, a class of anti-microbial peptides found in skin and in leukocytes. In addition to their innate defense function, these proline-rich peptides influence a number of mammalian cell p…
Cathelicidins are a mammalian gene family notable for the presence of an antibiotic peptide encoded at the carboxy-terminal domain of the nascent pre-pro-protein. Following proteolytic release, this peptide has direct antimicrobial activity. To under…
Antibacterial peptides are active defense components of innate immunity. Several studies confirm their importance at epithelial surfaces as immediate barrier effectors in preventing infection. Here we report that early in Shigella spp. infections, ex…
Since we live in a dirty environment, we have developed many host defenses to contend with microorganisms. The epithelial lining of our skin, gastrointestinal tract and bronchial tree produces a number of antibacterial peptides, and our phagocytic ne…