title: Leukocyte-derived antimicrobial proteins.
abstract: Survival in environments teeming with microbes depends on efficient mechanisms of host defense. Antimicrobial peptides and polypeptides in granules of leukocytes (eg, neutrophils) provide an important arm of first-line defense against invading microorganisms. Recent studies have broadened the scope and settings in which these proteins may function and, in at least one case, are leading to the development of a recombinant product that may provide a novel therapy for bacterial diseases when endogenous defenses are limiting.
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001770:Blood Bactericidal Activity; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D023082:Defensins; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001798:Blood Proteins; D023082:Defensins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C021623:bactericidal permeability increasing protein; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases