title: Defensins--non-antibiotic use for vaccine development.
abstract: Vaccines should elicit protective and long lasting immune memory, which depends on well choreographed responses between innate and acquired immunity. Defensins are small host defense peptides of innate immunity hitherto reported to have antimicrobial activity, which also orchestrate chemotaxis and activation of effector immune cells, including immature dendritic cells. This review analyzes the biological meaning of the immunomodulatory and immunoenhancing features of defensins and their use for the development of novel vaccines to combat cancer and clinically relevant diseases.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunology, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA. biragyna@grc.nia.nih.gov
authors.forename: Arya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biragyn
mesh_terms: D000277:Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000276:immunology* / Q000494:pharmacology; D023082:Defensins / Q000276:immunology*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D009895:Opsonin Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000277:Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023082:Defensins; D009895:Opsonin Proteins; D014612:Vaccines