Playford R J
Leicester General Hospital.
J R Coll Physicians Lond. 1997 Jan-Feb;31(1):37-41.
The trefoil peptides help to protect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. They have two beneficial roles in the gastrointestinal tract: 1. In basal circumstances, they may play a role in mucus stabilisation. 2. When an acute injury occurs, their rapid upregulation is important in stimulating the repair process, particularly that of epithelial restitution. The trefoil peptide motif consists of a unique 'three-loop' structure formed by intrachain disulphide bonds. Three members of this family have been identified in humans; spasmolytic polypeptide, intestinal trefoil factor and pS2. The trefoil peptides are expressed by mucus-producing cells throughout the normal gastrointestinal tract in a site-specific manner. In addition, the production of all three trefoil peptides is ectopically expressed in cells surrounding areas of damage in conditions such as peptic ulceration and inflammatory bowel disease.
三叶肽有助于保护胃肠道的内膜。它们在胃肠道中发挥两种有益作用：1. 在基础情况下，它们可能在黏液稳定方面发挥作用。2. 当发生急性损伤时，它们的快速上调对于刺激修复过程很重要，尤其是上皮修复过程。三叶肽基序由链内二硫键形成的独特“三环”结构组成。该家族在人类中已鉴定出三个成员；解痉多肽、肠三叶因子和pS2。三叶肽由整个正常胃肠道中产生黏液的细胞以位点特异性方式表达。此外，在消化性溃疡和炎症性肠病等情况下，所有三种三叶肽的产生都在损伤区域周围的细胞中异位表达。
