High viral tolerance coupled with an extraordinary regulation of the immune response makes bats a great model to study host-pathogen evolution. Although many immune-related gene gains and losses have been previously reported in bats, important families such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) remain understudied. We built exhaustive bioinformatic pipeline targeting major defensins cathelicidins ex...

Impaired expression of α-defensin antimicrobial peptides and overproduction the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β have been associated with inflammatory bowel disease. In this study, we examine interactions between α-defensins role defensin deficiency in pathogenesis It was found that matrix metalloproteinase-7-deficient (MMP-7−/−) mice, which produce procryptdins but not mature ...

Defensins are antimicrobial peptides important to innate host defense. In addition to their direct antimicrobial effect, defensins modulate immune responses. Increasing evidence indicates that defensins exhibit complex functions by positively or negatively modulating infections of both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The effects of defensins on viral infections appear to be specific to the...

Aim. IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common form of glomerulonephritis. Recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) suggested that DEFA locus (which encodes α-defensins) may play a key role in IgAN. Methods. The levels of α-defensins in 169 IgAN patients and 83 healthy controls were tested by ELISA. Results. We observed that α-defensins human neutrophil peptides 1-3 (HNP1-3) in IgAN patients...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major etiological agent of human non-A and non-B hepatitis, affecting around 180 million people worldwide. Defensins, small cysteine-rich cationic peptides, are shown to have potent antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Defensins can be found in both normal and microbial infected patients, at variable concentrations. Notably, viral infections are of...

Human neutrophils contain three isoforms of antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides in the azurophil granules, which belong to a family of mammalian neutrophil peptides named defensins. Here we investigate the role of these peptides in diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB). Defensins (human neutrophil peptide-1, -2 and -3) were measured by radioimmunoassay in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of 30 pat...

Human defensins are natural peptide antibiotics. On the basis of the position and bonding of six conserved cysteine residues, they are divided into two families, designated alpha- and beta-defensins. Human alpha-defensins are expressed predominantly in neutrophils (human neutrophil peptides (HNP) 1-4) or intestinal Paneth cells (human defensins (HD) 5 and 6). Although alpha-defensins have been ...

Host defense of the small intestine is mediated, in part, by antimicrobial peptides, including alpha-defensins. In the small intestine, Paneth cells, specialized secretory epithelial cells located at the base of the crypt invaginations lining the intestinal wall, produce alpha-defensins. The alpha-defensins are cysteine-rich cationic peptides with antibiotic activity against a wide range of bac...

Defensins are peptides of the innate immune system with potent antimicrobial activity. Despite strong interest in defensins as potential pharmaceutical compounds, commercial development of these peptides has been challenging. New generations of modified antimicrobial peptides are being pursued to improve their potential as pharmaceuticals. Strategies include peptide mimetics, hybrid peptides, p...