Defensins: antimicrobial peptides of vertebrates.
This review, based on my presentation at the French Academy of Sciences on May 19, 2003, describes recent progress in the study of antimicrobial peptides, mediators of innate immunity in plants and animals. The main focus is on vertebrate defensins, a family of cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides abundantly represented in human cells and tissues.
CHS 37-055, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1690, USA. tganz@mednet.ucla.edu
Tomas
T
Ganz
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000276:immunology; D023082:Defensins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010944:Plants / Q000276:immunology; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000276:immunology
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023082:Defensins