Antimicrobial Peptides

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Antimicrobial Peptides in Cutaneous Wound Healing

   • Ole E. Sørensen

   Pages 1-15

3. Antimicrobial Peptides as Endogenous Antibacterials and Antivirals at the Ocular Surface

   • Fabian Garreis, Martin Schicht, Friedrich Paulsen

   Pages 17-32

4. Function of Antimicrobial Peptides in Lung Innate Immunity

   • Frederik Seiler, Robert Bals, Christoph Beisswenger

   Pages 33-52

5. Antimicrobial Peptides: Maintaining Sterility of the Urinary Tract

   • Brian Becknell, John David Spencer

   Pages 53-65

6. Antimicrobial Peptides in the Gut

   • Maureen J. Ostaff, Eduard F. Stange, Jan Wehkamp

   Pages 67-88

7. Metal Sequestration: An Important Contribution of Antimicrobial Peptides to Nutritional Immunity

   • Steven Damo, Thomas E. Kehl-Fie

   Pages 89-100

8. Regulation of Antimicrobial Peptide Gene Expression by Vitamin D

   • Adrian F. Gombart

   Pages 101-113

9. Dichotomous Roles of Cationic Polypeptides Targeting HIV

   • Alexander M. Cole, Amy Liese Cole

   Pages 115-127

10. Antimicrobial Peptides in Host Defense: Functions Beyond Antimicrobial Activity

    • Kim Alan Brogden, Amber M. Bates, Carol L. Fischer

    Pages 129-146

11. Antimicrobial Peptides: Do They Have a Future as Therapeutics?

    • Michael Zasloff

    Pages 147-154

12. Back Matter

    Pages 155-158

    PDF

This book focuses on the importance of human antimicrobial peptides (AMP) in keeping the host healthy and preventing infectious diseases. The first chapters deal with several examples of the role of AMP in different epithelial organs (skin and wound healing, eye, lung, genito-urinary tract, gut), which are exposed to different kinds of infectious microorganisms and as a result produce different patterns of AMP. Examples of the dysregulation of AMP expression and function promoting infections are discussed. The capacity of AMP to restrict the availability of essential metals to bacteria as an efficient antibacterial strategy in nutritional immunity is discussed in the next chapter. Our current understanding of how vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, influences AMP-expression and how this can affect our health is also addressed. Last but not least, the role of AMP in HIV infection and the immunomodulatory properties of AMP highlight the diverse facets of AMP in host immunity. AMP’s specific functions, including in fighting multi-resistant bacteria, suggest that they may offer therapeutic benefits – a question that is discussed in the final chapter.

• Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) in health and disease
• antimicrobial proteins
• defensins
• endogenous peptide antibiotics
• host defense peptides
• innate host defense
• innate immunity

• Department of Dermatology, University-Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany

  Jürgen Harder, Jens-M. Schröder

Policies and ethics