Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Defensins: Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Peptides of Mammalian Cells

Defensins: Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Peptides of Mammalian Cells Defensins are antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides that contain 29-35 amino acid residues, including six invariant cysteines whose intromolecular disulfide bonds cyclize and stabilize them in a complexly folded, triple­ stranded fj-sheet configuration. Generated by the proteolytic processing of 93-95 amino acid precursor peptides, they constitute> 5% of the total cellular protein in human and rabbit neutrophils (polymorphonucleated neutrophils-PMN) and are also produced by rabbit lung macrophages and by mouse and rabbit small intestinal Paneth cells. Despite their pro­ minence in rat PMN, defensins are not found in murine PMN. The anti­ microbial spectrum of defensins includes gram positive and gram negative bacteria, mycobacteria, T. pallidum, many fungi, and some enveloped 105 0732-0582/93/0410-0105$02.00 LEHRER ET AL viruses. Defensins exert nonspecific cytotoxic activity against a wide range of normal and malignant targets, including cells resistant to TNF-a and NK-cytolytic factor. They appear to kill mammalian target ce1\s and micro­ organisms by a common mechanism, which involves initial electrostatic interactions with negatively charged target ce1\ surface molecules (likely the head groups of polar membrane lipids), followed by insertion into the cell membranes which they permeabilize, forming voltage-regulated channels. In addition to their antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties, some defensins act as opsonins, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Immunology Annual Reviews

Defensins: Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Peptides of Mammalian Cells

Download PDF
24 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/annual-reviews/defensins-antimicrobial-and-cytotoxic-peptides-of-mammalian-cells-tWXEtEcSMv

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1993 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
0732-0582
eISSN
1545-3278
DOI
10.1146/annurev.iy.11.040193.000541
pmid
8476558
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Defensins are antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides that contain 29-35 amino acid residues, including six invariant cysteines whose intromolecular disulfide bonds cyclize and stabilize them in a complexly folded, triple­ stranded fj-sheet configuration. Generated by the proteolytic processing of 93-95 amino acid precursor peptides, they constitute> 5% of the total cellular protein in human and rabbit neutrophils (polymorphonucleated neutrophils-PMN) and are also produced by rabbit lung macrophages and by mouse and rabbit small intestinal Paneth cells. Despite their pro­ minence in rat PMN, defensins are not found in murine PMN. The anti­ microbial spectrum of defensins includes gram positive and gram negative bacteria, mycobacteria, T. pallidum, many fungi, and some enveloped 105 0732-0582/93/0410-0105$02.00 LEHRER ET AL viruses. Defensins exert nonspecific cytotoxic activity against a wide range of normal and malignant targets, including cells resistant to TNF-a and NK-cytolytic factor. They appear to kill mammalian target ce1\s and micro­ organisms by a common mechanism, which involves initial electrostatic interactions with negatively charged target ce1\ surface molecules (likely the head groups of polar membrane lipids), followed by insertion into the cell membranes which they permeabilize, forming voltage-regulated channels. In addition to their antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties, some defensins act as opsonins,

Journal

Annual Review of Immunology – Annual Reviews

Published: Apr 1, 1993

There are no references for this article.