tailieunhanh - Báo cáo khoa học: Multifunctional host defense peptides: Antimicrobial peptides, the small yet big players in innate and adaptive immunity

The term ‘antimicrobial peptides’ refers to a large number of peptides first characterized on the basis of their antibiotic and antifungal activities. In addition to their role as endogenous antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides, also called host defense peptides, participate in multiple aspects of immunity (inflammation, wound repair, and regulation of the adaptive immune sys-tem) as well as in maintaining homeostasis. | ỊFEBS Journal MINIREVIEW Multifunctional host defense peptides Antimicrobial peptides the small yet big players in innate and adaptive immunity Constance Auvynet1 2 and Yvonne Rosenstein1 1 Institute de Biotecnologia Universidad NacionalAutonoma de Mexico Cuernavaca Mor. Mexico 2 FRE 2852 Peptidome de la peau des amphibiens CNRS Universite Pierre et Marie Curie Paris France Keywords antimicrobialpeptides cathelicidins defensins gene expression immunity Correspondence Y. Rosenstein Instituto de Biotecnologia Universidad NacionalAutonoma de Mexico Av. Universidad 2001 Col. Chamilpa Cuernavaca Mor. 62210 Mexico Fax 52 777 317 2388 Tel 52 777 329 1606 E-mail yvonne@ Present address INSERM UMR-S 945 Immunite et Infection Universite Pierre et Marie Curie Paris France The term antimicrobial peptides refers to a large number of peptides first characterized on the basis of their antibiotic and antifungal activities. In addition to their role as endogenous antibiotics antimicrobial peptides also called host defense peptides participate in multiple aspects of immunity inflammation wound repair and regulation of the adaptive immune system as well as in maintaining homeostasis. The possibility of utilizing these multifunctional molecules to effectively combat the ever-growing group of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has intensified research aimed at improving their antibiotic activity and therapeutic potential without the burden of an exacerbated inflammatory response but conserving their immunomodulatory potential. In this minireview we focus on the contribution of small cationic antimicrobial peptides - particularly human cathelicidins and defen-sins - to the immune response and disease highlighting recent advances in our understanding of the roles of these multifunctional molecules. Received 31 May 2009 revised 3 September 2009 accepted 4 September 2009 doi Introduction Antimicrobial peptides constitute a heterogeneous group of .