Ham P J, Albuquerque C, Smithies B, Chalk R, Klager S, Hagen H
Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK.
Ciba Found Symp. 1994;186:140-51; discussion 151-9. doi: 10.1002/9780470514658.ch9.
The induction and characterization of immune peptides in two groups of medically important insects, the mosquitoes and blackflies, is currently an important research area. Mosquitoes transmit a variety of viral and parasitic diseases including yellow fever, dengue, malaria and lymphatic filariasis. Simuliid black flies are vectors of river blindness. The diseases are together responsible for death and morbidity in millions of people each year. The relationship between inducible peptides and bacterial and parasitic infections in these insects is proving to be a complex one. The identification of an insect defensin (4 kDa) in Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, has proved to be the first peptide characterized in a vector of human disease. This inducible molecule appears in the haemolymph in response to bacterial and to a lesser extent filarial infection. The characterization of inducible blackfly peptides has revealed potent inducible anti-Gram-positive as well as anti-Gram-negative activity. In addition, non-self recognition molecules such as phenoloxidase may play a part in differentiating one species of eukaryotic pathogen from another of the same genus. The interactions between the peptides and these other proteins are likely to be important in the establishment of a successful immune response against a parasitic pathogen, particularly as we now know these peptides to have anti-eukaryotic activity (against a range of parasite species). As well as being of fundamental interest in our understanding of host-parasite relationships, the indication that antibacterial peptides are toxic to parasitic organisms has implications for their possible use in the disease vector control strategies of the future. It may also mean that a revision in our understanding of their mode of action, loose as it is, has to take place.
在两类具有重要医学意义的昆虫——蚊子和蚋中，免疫肽的诱导和特性研究目前是一个重要的研究领域。蚊子传播多种病毒和寄生虫疾病，包括黄热病、登革热、疟疾和淋巴丝虫病。蚋是盘尾丝虫病的传播媒介。这些疾病每年导致数百万人死亡和患病。事实证明，这些昆虫中可诱导肽与细菌和寄生虫感染之间的关系很复杂。在黄热病蚊子埃及伊蚊中鉴定出一种昆虫防御素（4 kDa），这被证明是在人类疾病传播媒介中鉴定出的首个肽。这种可诱导分子在血淋巴中出现，以应对细菌感染，对丝虫感染的反应程度较小。对可诱导的蚋肽的特性研究揭示了其强大的诱导型抗革兰氏阳性菌以及抗革兰氏阴性菌活性。此外，非自身识别分子，如酚氧化酶，可能在区分同一属的不同真核病原体物种方面发挥作用。这些肽与其他蛋白质之间的相互作用，可能在建立针对寄生性病原体的成功免疫反应中很重要，特别是因为我们现在知道这些肽具有抗真核生物活性（针对多种寄生虫物种）。除了在我们理解宿主 - 寄生虫关系方面具有根本意义外，抗菌肽对寄生生物有毒这一发现对其在未来疾病媒介控制策略中的可能应用也有影响。这也可能意味着我们必须对其作用方式（尽管目前还不明确）的理解进行修正。
