Departments of Medicine and Pathology and the Will Rogers Institute for Pulmonary Research, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1690.
Integr Comp Biol. 2003 Apr;43(2):300-4. doi: 10.1093/icb/43.2.300.
Production of antimicrobial peptides and proteins is an important means of host defense in eukaryotes. The larger antimicrobial proteins, containing more than 100 amino acids, are often lytic enzymes, nutrient-binding proteins or contain sites that target specific microbial macromolecules. The smaller antimicrobial peptides act largely by disrupting the structure or function of microbial cell membranes. Hundreds of antimicrobial peptides have been found in the epithelial layers, phagocytic cells and body fluids of multicellular animals, from mollusks to humans. Some antimicrobial peptides are produced constitutively, others are induced in response to infection or inflammation. Studies of the regulation of antimicrobial peptide synthesis in Drosophila have been particularly fruitful, and have provided a new paradigm for the analysis of mammalian host defense responses. It now appears that the general patterns of antimicrobial responses of invertebrates have been preserved in vertebrates ("innate immunity") where they contribute to host defense both independently and in complex interplay with adaptive immunity.
抗菌肽和蛋白质的产生是真核生物宿主防御的重要手段。较大的抗菌蛋白，包含 100 多个氨基酸，通常是溶酶体酶、营养结合蛋白，或含有针对特定微生物大分子的靶位。较小的抗菌肽主要通过破坏微生物细胞膜的结构或功能起作用。从软体动物到人类的多细胞动物的上皮层、吞噬细胞和体液中发现了数百种抗菌肽。有些抗菌肽是组成型产生的，而另一些则在感染或炎症时诱导产生。对果蝇中抗菌肽合成调控的研究特别富有成效，并为分析哺乳动物宿主防御反应提供了一个新的范例。现在看来，无脊椎动物的抗菌反应的一般模式在脊椎动物（“先天免疫”）中得以保留，它们独立地并与适应性免疫相互作用来促进宿主防御。
