14102 studies
Host defense peptides are innate immune effectors that possess both bactericidal activities and immunomodulatory functions. Deficiency in the human host defense peptide LL-37 has previously been correlated with severe periodontal disease. Treponema d…
LL-23 is a natural peptide corresponding to the 23 N-terminal amino acid residues of human host defense cathelicidin LL-37. LL-23 demonstrated, compared to LL-37, a conserved ability to induce the chemokine MCP-1 in human peripheral blood mononuclear…
AIM: Increasing evidence indicates that antimicrobial peptides, human neutrophil peptide-1, -2, and -3 (HNP1-3) and human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 are involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis; however, little is known about their circula…
Peptide antibiotics possess the potent antimicrobial activities against invading microorganisms and contribute to the innate host defense. Human antimicrobial peptides, α-defensins (human neutrophil peptides, HNPs), human β-defensins (hBDs), and cath…
BACKGROUND: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a rare neoplasm of lymphatic endothelial cells. Human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) is considered to be a necessary, but not sufficient causal agent of KS and additional cofactors remain unknown. In this study we evaluat…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Gingival crevicular fluid is a bodily fluid transuded from periodontal tissues into the gingival crevice and periodontal pocket, and contains many species of components. Proteins in gingival crevicular fluid have been studie…
Rhodococcus equi, the causal agent of rhodococcosis, is a severe pathogen of foals but also of immunodeficient humans, causing bronchopneumonia. The pathogen is often found together with Klebsiella pneumoniae or Streptococcus zooepidemicus in foals.…
The oral cavity is home to numerous viruses and micro-organisms recognized as having a role in various oral diseases as well as in infections in other parts of the body. Indeed, in general a microbial infection underlies or is believed to underlie th…
Cathelicidin LL-37 is a multifunctional, immunomodulatory and antimicrobial host-defense peptide of the human immune system. Here, we identified the role of SFKs in mediating the chemokine induction activity of LL-37 in monocytic cells. LL-37 induced…
Antimicrobial peptides are important effector molecules of the innate immune system. Here, we describe that peptides derived from the heparin-binding disulfide-constrained loop region of human ß-amyloid precursor protein are antimicrobial. The peptid…
Defensins and cathelicidins are anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) that act as natural antibiotics and are part of the innate immune defence in many species. We consider human defensins and LL37, the only human member of the cathelicidin family. In parti…
The ClpXP protease is a critical bacterial intracellular protease that regulates protein turnover in many bacterial species. Here we identified a pharmacological inhibitor of the ClpXP protease, F2, and evaluated its action in Bacillus anthracis and…
Leukocyte apheresis primarily used for treatment of inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Beside an effect of the apheresis column, the plastic lines in the apheresis system might also have an effect due to interaction betwe…
BACKGROUND: Patients, especially young children, with atopic dermatitis are at an increased risk of developing eczema vaccinatum, a severe reaction to the smallpox vaccine, either through direct vaccination or indirect contact with a person recently…
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a naturally occurring component of the innate immune response of many organisms and can have activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial species. In order to optimize and improve the direct antimi…
Vitamin D binding protein (DBP) plays a key role in the bioavailability of active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)(2)D) and its precursor 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), but accurate analysis of DBP-bound and free 25OHD and 1,25(OH)(2)D is difficult. T…
The human cathelicidin antimicrobial protein hCAP18, which includes the C-terminal peptide LL-37, is a multifunctional protein. As a possible approach to enhancing the resistance to plant disease, a DNA fragment coding for hCAP18/LL-37 was fused at t…
Apart from direct bacterial killing, antimicrobial host defence peptides (HDPs) exert various other biological activities that also include modulation of immune responses to infection. The bovine cathelicidin BMAP-28 has been extensively studied with…
Msb2 is a sensor protein in the plasma membrane of fungi. In the human fungal pathogen C. albicans Msb2 signals via the Cek1 MAP kinase pathway to maintain cell wall integrity and allow filamentous growth. Msb2 doubly epitope-tagged in its large extr…
BACKGROUND: The effects of serum vitamin D status on atopy, steroid requirement, and functional responsiveness to corticosteroids in children versus adults with asthma have not been studied systematically. OBJECTIVE: We sought to explore the age-spec…