14102 studies
BACKGROUND: Modification of teichoic acids with D-alanine by the products of the dlt operon protects Gram-positive bacteria against major antimicrobial host defense molecules such as defensins, cathelicidins, myeloperoxidase or phospholipase. The gra…
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…
Gene therapy for gastric cancer and gastric ulcer is a rationalized strategy since various genes correlate with these diseases. Since gene expressions in non-target tissues/cells cause side effects, a selective gene delivery system targeted to the st…
The surface of our skin is constantly challenged by a wide variety of microbial pathogens, still cutaneous infections are relatively rare. Within cutaneous innate immunity the production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a primary system for protec…
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…
INTRODUCTION: During periodontitis, an innate immune response to bacterial challenge is primarily mediated by neutrophils. We compared neutrophilic content and the level of neutrophil-derived antimicrobial peptides in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF)…
The ability to form biofilms is a critical factor in chronic infections by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and has made this bacterium a model organism with respect to biofilm formation. This study describes a new, previously unrecognized role for the human c…
From among 15 human cathelicidin LL-37-derived peptides, FK-13 was identified as the smallest peptide active against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and GI-20 had the highest therapeutic index, which was twice that of LL-37. BMAP-18, which is deri…
Antibodies to the human cathelicidin, hCAP18 have been used to examine epithelial tissues of adult and pouch young marsupials. Immunoreactivity was observed in skin, gastrointestinal tract, lung and mammary node of adults as well as skin, gastrointes…
Surface acoustic wave biosensors are a powerful tool for the study of biomolecular interactions. The modulation of a surface-confined acoustic wave is utilized here for the analysis of surface binding. Phase and amplitude of the wave correspond rough…
Cathelicidins are antimicrobial peptides, well studied in mammals and found to be multifunctional proteins, important in the fight against bacterial invasion. Cathelicidins in fish have only recently been identified and little is known about their fu…
The cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide bactenecin is a beta-hairpin molecule with a single disulfide bond and broad antimicrobial activity. The proform of bactenecin exists as a dimer, however, and it has been proposed that bactenecin is released as…
NOD2/CARD15 belongs to the N-terminal caspase recruitment domain family of proteins involved in regulating NF-kB activation in response to inflammatory stimuli transduced through Toll-like receptors. Mutations and polymorphisms in the NOD2/CARD15 gen…
Three cDNA sequences coding for elapid cathelicidins were cloned from constructed venom gland cDNA libraries of Naja atra, Bungarus fasciatus and Ophiophagus hannah. The open reading frames of the cloned elapid cathelicidins were all composed of 576b…
The innate immune system evolved more than 2 billion years ago to first recognize pathogens then eradicate them. Several distinct defects in this ancient but rapidly responsive element of human immune defense account for the increased incidence of sk…
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…
Cystatins, the cysteine protease inhibitors, and the cathelin-like domain (CLD) of the antimicrobial cathelicidins are classified into the same superfamily because of their overall structural similarity. However, their evolutionary relationship has r…
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…
Bacterial pathogens colonize human body surfaces soon after birth. In order to survive the constant threat of invasion and infection, the human innate immune system has evolved several efficient mechanisms to prevent harmful microorganisms from trave…
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…