Acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) is a life-threatening condition that can result in multiple organ injury and death. A timely diagnosis and treatment would have a significant impact on the morbidity and mortality in high-risk patient population. The purpose of this study was to investigate if intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) and α-defensins can be used as biomarkers for early AMI a...

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, characterized by periods of acute recurrence and remission. Depending on the specific region affected, CD is classified as ileal CD or colonic CD. It is largely accepted that the intestinal microbiota is involved in the onset of the pathology. Indeed, a reduced immune tolerance to components of the intestinal commensal mic...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the expression and regulation of defensins in the peritoneal cavity of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. DESIGN The presence of defensins in the peritoneal cavity was assessed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In vivo defensin expression was analyzed in human peritoneal membrane biopsies and in peritoneal cavity leukocytes isolated from ...

Nicotiana alata defensins 1 and 2 (NaD1 and NaD2) are plant defensins from the ornamental tobacco that have antifungal activity against a variety of fungal pathogens. Some plant defensins interact with fungal cell wall O-glycosylated proteins. Therefore, we investigated if this was the case for NaD1 and NaD2, by assessing the sensitivity of the three Aspergillus nidulans (An) O-mannosyltransfer...

Haemophilus ducreyi resists the cytotoxic effects of human antimicrobial peptides (APs), including α-defensins, β-defensins, and the cathelicidin LL-37. Resistance to LL-37, mediated by the sensitive to antimicrobial peptide (Sap) transporter, is required for H. ducreyi virulence in humans. Cationic APs are attracted to the negatively charged bacterial cell surface. In other gram-negative bacte...

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are essential components of the innate immune system. As a major family of mammalian antimicrobial peptides, defensins are expressed mainly by mucosal epithelial cells and promyelocytes. Despite the capacity to kill a broad spectrum of bacteria through physical disruption of membranes, most defensins show substantially reduced antibacterial activities in the pres...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Recent reports have suggested that Helicobacter pylori infection induces the mucosal antibiotic peptide human beta defensin 2 (HBD-2). Therefore, the present study investigated mRNA and peptide expression of four different defensins in the upper gastrointestinal tract in patients with H pylori positive and negative chronic gastritis. MATERIALS/METHODS Biopsies from the oesopha...

Aim—To determine if â defensins are expressed in the anterior segment of the eye and to determine the temporal pattern of expression using a real time semiquantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Methods—Ocular tissue (corneal epithelium, conjunctiva, iris, and lens capsule) was collected from 23 patients undergoing surgery. Serial corneal or conjunctival impressio...

β-defensins are a family of important peptides of innate immunity, involved in host defense, immunomodulation, reproduction, and pigmentation. Genes encoding β-defensins show evidence of birth-and-death evolution, adaptation by amino acid sequence changes, and extensive copy number variation (CNV) within humans and other species. The role of CNV in the adaptation of β-defensins to new functions...

Beta-defensins play a dual role during immune response. Their direct antimicrobial properties contribute to the local innate immune response by combating microbial invasions. Furthermore, previous studies revealed the capacity of certain beta-defensin family members to chemoattract immature dendritic cells and CD45RO+ CD4+ T cells through chemokine receptor CCR6. However, because beta-defensins...