title: Azurocidin, a natural antibiotic from human neutrophils: expression, antimicrobial activity, and secretion.
abstract: The azurophil granules of human PMN contain four antibiotic proteins, the serprocidins, which have extensive homology to one another and to serine proteases. Azurocidin, a member of this family, is a 29-kDa glycoprotein with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity and chemotactic activity toward monocytes. Insect cells transfected with a baculovirus vector carrying azurocidin cDNA produced a recombinant azurocidin protein. We purified the recombinant azurocidin protein from the culture medium of the infected cells and showed that it retained the antimicrobial activity of the native neutrophil-derived molecule. In addition, we present evidence that a 49-amino-acid region of the recombinant azurocidin protein is required for its secretion from insect cells.
authors.affiliation: Division of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanet
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Witko-Sarsat
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melchior
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCabe
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gabay
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001483:Base Sequence; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D017038:Mannosyl-Glycoprotein Endo-beta-N-Acetylglucosaminidase / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D018411:Spodoptera / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: C062991:AZU1 protein, human; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001798:Blood Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D017038:Mannosyl-Glycoprotein Endo-beta-N-Acetylglucosaminidase