14102 studies
Cigarette smoke (CS) exposure is a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We investigated whether CS-induced damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) release or DAMP-mediated inflammation contributes to susceptibility f…
Recent research has suggested that polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in the intestinal tract impact the health of animals either negatively or positively. The concentration of polyamines in the intestinal tract results from the balanc…
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are potent antibiotics of the innate immune system that have been extensively investigated as a potential solution to the global problem of infectious diseases caused by pathogenic microbes. A group of AMPs that are incr…
Leptospirosis causes significant morbidity and mortality worldwide; however, the role of the host immune response in disease progression and high case fatality (>10-50%) is poorly understood. We conducted a multi-parameter investigation of patients w…
, the causative agent of melioidosis, is intrinsically resistant to many conventional antibiotics. Therefore, alternative antimicrobial agents such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are extensively studied to combat this issue. Our study aims to ident…
Cathelicidins, a major family of vertebrate antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), have a recognized role in the first line of defense against infections. They have been identified in several salmonid species, where the putative mature peptides are unusually…
A new concept for treatment of infections is induction of our own antimicrobial peptides and the presented novel class of inducer, aroylated phenylenediamines (APDs), gives up to 20 to 30-fold induction of the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37, in vi…
BACKGROUND: Active Vitamin D analogues are used clinically for prevention and treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Nutritional vitamin D supplementation is used for additional local parathyroid (PTH) suppre…
BACKGROUND: In normal and neoplastic cells, growth-promoting, proangiogenic, cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic effects have all been attributed to cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP). Nevertheless, little is known about the factors regulating this pe…
Proline-Arginine-39 (PR-39) is a small cationic, proline and arginine rich, cathelicidin that plays an important role in the porcine innate immune system. Although PR-39 was first discovered in intestinal cell lysates of pigs, subsequent research has…
BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common skin disease characterized by recurrent pruritic inflammatory skin lesions resulting from structural and immune defects of the skin barrier. Previous studies have shown the clinical efficacy of Avène the…
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of single oral mega-dose of Vitamin D3 for treatment and prevention of pneumonia in under-five children. DESIGN: Randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: Tertiary-care hospital. PARTICIPANTS: 32…
Membrane-disrupting antimicrobial peptides provide broad-spectrum defence against localized bacterial invasion in a range of hosts including humans. The most generally held consensus is that targeting to pathogens is based on interactions with the he…
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the LL-37, HNP-1 and HBD2/3 peptides on cytokine and MMP production in human polymorphonuclear cells, mononuclear cells and chondrocytes. The levels of cytokines in supernatants from mononuclear an…
BACKGROUND: 1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D[1,25(OH)D] and retinoic acid, such as all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and 9-cis retinoic acid (9cRA), are known to induce differentiation of myeloid leukemia cells. Combined treatment effectively enhances the diffe…
BACKGROUND: Little information is available regarding vitamin D-associated factors in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung disease. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between vitamin D-related factors and susceptibility to NTM l…
LL-37, a cationic antimicrobial peptide, has numerous immune-modulating effects. However, the identity of a receptor(s) mediating the responses in immune cells remains uncertain. We have recently demonstrated that LL-37 interacts with the αI-domain o…
Antimicrobial peptides are an ancient family of molecules that emerged millions of years ago and have been strongly conserved during the evolutionary process of living organisms. Recently, our group described that the human antimicrobial peptide LL-3…
A large number of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) acts with high selectivity and specificity through interactions with membrane lipid components. These peptides undergo complex conformational changes in solution; upon binding to an interface, one major…