title: Antimicrobial peptides in the oral environment: expression and function in health and disease.
abstract: The oral cavity is a unique environment in which antimicrobial peptides play a key role in maintaining health and may have future therapeutic applications. Present evidence suggests that alpha-defensins, beta-defensins, LL-37, histatin, and other antimicrobial peptides and proteins have distinct but overlapping roles in maintaining oral health and preventing bacterial, fungal, and viral adherence and infection. The expression of the inducible hBD-2 in normal oral epithelium, in contrast to other epithelia, and the apparent differential signaling in response to commensal and pathogenic organisms, provides new insights into innate immunity in this body site. Commensal bacteria are excellent inducers of hBD-2 in oral epithelial cells, suggesting that the commensal bacterial community acts in a manner to benefit the overall innate immune readiness of oral epithelia. This may have major significance for understanding host defense in the complex oral environment.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Oral Biology, Box 357132, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7132, USA. bdale@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Beverly A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: L Page
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Fredericks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D005881:Gingiva / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D051379:Mice; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides