Mak Paweł, Wójcik Kinga, Wicherek Lukasz, Suder Piotr, Dubin Adam
Department of Analytical Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 7 Gronostajowa St., 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
Peptides. 2004 Nov;25(11):1839-47. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2004.06.015.
This work documents that normal menstrual vaginal blood of healthy females is exceptionally rich in hemocidins--hemoglobin (Hb) fragments having bactericidal properties. The peptide fractions were isolated from the plasma of vaginal discharge of three healthy nulliparous women and subjected to identification by automatic sequencing as well as by mass spectrometry. All 44 identified peptides originate from Hb (mainly from the N-terminal part of alpha-globin) and all demonstrated differential killing activity toward Escherichia coli. The screening of antimicrobial activity was performed using two synthetic peptides identical to those found in menstrual blood. These peptides were active mainly toward Gram-negative bacteria and to a less degree toward Gram-positive bacteria. Our results confirm recent observations that Hb-derived fragments manifest pronounced antibacterial activity and suggest that these peptides help in maintaining human vaginal homeostasis during physiologic menstrual bleeding.
这项研究证明，健康女性正常月经阴道血中富含杀菌素——具有杀菌特性的血红蛋白（Hb）片段。从三名未生育的健康女性阴道分泌物血浆中分离出肽段，并通过自动测序和质谱进行鉴定。所有44种已鉴定的肽均源自Hb（主要来自α-珠蛋白的N端部分），并且都对大肠杆菌表现出不同的杀伤活性。使用与月经血中发现的两种合成肽相同的肽进行抗菌活性筛选。这些肽主要对革兰氏阴性菌有活性，对革兰氏阳性菌的活性较弱。我们的结果证实了最近的观察结果，即Hb衍生片段表现出显著的抗菌活性，并表明这些肽有助于在生理性月经出血期间维持人类阴道内环境稳定。
