Lapis Károly
Semmelweis Egyetem, Altalános Orvostudományi Kar I. Patológia és Kísérleti Rákkutató Intézet Budapest Ulloi út 26. 1085.
Orv Hetil. 2009 Jan 18;150(3):109-19. doi: 10.1556/OH.2009.28512.
In humans the three main groups of antimicrobial peptides are the defensins, the cathelicidins and the histatins. They differ widely in their biochemical properties and in the spectrum of their antimicrobial activities. For quite a while they were regarded only as new-type antimicrobial agents. Recent studies revealed, however, that functions of these peptides extend far beyond their antimicrobial activities. They were shown to be implicated in a remarkably broad range of other - likewise host defence related - biological processes. They proved to be important components of the innate immune system. Furthermore it was also shown that they interact with various receptors on the immature dendritic cells and lymphocytes resulting in the activation of adaptive immune responses, in which they were shown to play further immunomodulatory roles, too. Pertaining LL-37 it has even been proposed that it has more potent immunomodulatory activities than antimicrobial function. Human alpha-defensins were shown to be active across species in mice and to have immunoadjuvant effects. Recently numerous papers have been reported on studies providing abundant evidences that several diseases in humans are characterized by impairment in the function of these small host defensive peptides. The recognition of the multifunctional role of these peptides further raised the interest of the pharmaceutical industry toward them.
在人类中，主要的三类抗菌肽是防御素、猫爪素和组蛋白。它们在生化特性和抗菌活性谱方面差异很大。在相当长的一段时间里，它们仅被视为新型抗菌剂。然而，最近的研究表明，这些肽的功能远远超出了它们的抗菌活性。它们被证明参与了一系列同样与宿主防御相关的广泛生物过程。它们被证明是先天免疫系统的重要组成部分。此外，还表明它们与未成熟树突状细胞和淋巴细胞上的各种受体相互作用，从而激活适应性免疫反应，在这一过程中它们也发挥着进一步的免疫调节作用。关于LL-37，甚至有人提出它具有比抗菌功能更强的免疫调节活性。人类α-防御素在小鼠体内被证明具有跨物种活性，并具有免疫佐剂作用。最近，有大量论文报道了相关研究，提供了丰富的证据表明，人类的几种疾病的特征是这些小型宿主防御肽的功能受损。对这些肽多功能作用的认识进一步提高了制药行业对它们的兴趣。
