Lapis Károly
Semmelweis Egyetem, Altalános Orvostudományi Kar I. Patológiai és Kísérleti Rákkutató Intézet Budapest Ullôi út 26. 1085.
Orv Hetil. 2008 Dec 21;149(51):2419-24. doi: 10.1556/OH.2008.28511.
Antimicrobial peptides are typically small cationic and amphiphilic molecules, which exhibit a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity. These peptides are seen as an important and ancient mechanism of defence for most living organisms. Some of these peptides are produced constitutively whereas others are induced by exogenous microbial products or by proinflammatory cytokines. The antimicrobial peptides differ widely in their biochemical properties, but typically they act directly against microbes through a mechanism involving membrane disruption and pore formation leading to leakage of cell content and cell death. In human beings the defensins, cathelicidins and histatins are the principal antimicrobial peptides. They are found in neutrophils, in some other white blood cells and in the epithelium of every major organ system examined. Recent studies revealed that, beyond antimicrobial activity, the antimicrobial peptides are involved in a remarkably broad range of host defence related functions including neutralisation of some bacterial toxins and augmentation of both innate and adaptive immune mechanisms. Since several of them have proved to be effective against antibiotic resistant bacteria, these peptides are being widely used as blueprints for the design of new antimicrobial agents.
抗菌肽通常是小的阳离子两亲性分子，具有广泛的抗菌活性。这些肽被视为大多数生物重要且古老的防御机制。其中一些肽是组成性产生的，而其他一些则由外源性微生物产物或促炎细胞因子诱导产生。抗菌肽的生化特性差异很大，但通常它们通过涉及膜破坏和孔形成的机制直接作用于微生物，导致细胞内容物泄漏和细胞死亡。在人类中，防御素、cathelicidins和组蛋白是主要的抗菌肽。它们存在于中性粒细胞、一些其他白细胞以及所检查的每个主要器官系统的上皮细胞中。最近的研究表明，除了抗菌活性外，抗菌肽还参与了一系列广泛的与宿主防御相关的功能，包括中和一些细菌毒素以及增强先天性和适应性免疫机制。由于其中几种已被证明对耐抗生素细菌有效，这些肽正被广泛用作设计新型抗菌剂的蓝本。
