title: Antimicrobial peptides and proteins of the horse--insights into a well-armed organism.
abstract: Antimicrobial peptides play a pivotal role as key effectors of the innate immune system in plants and animals and act as endogenous antibiotics. The molecules exhibit an antimicrobial activity against bacteria, viruses, and eukaryotic pathogens with different specificities and potencies depending on the structure and amino-acid composition of the peptides. Several antimicrobial peptides were comprehensively investigated in the last three decades and some molecules with remarkable antimicrobial properties have reached the third phase of clinical studies. Next to the peptides themselves, numerous organisms were examined and analyzed regarding their repertoire of antimicrobial peptides revealing a huge number of candidates with potencies and properties for future medical applications. One of these organisms is the horse, which possesses numerous peptides that are interesting candidates for therapeutical applications in veterinary medicine. Here we summarize investigations and knowledge on equine antimicrobial peptides, point to interesting candidates, and discuss prospects for therapeutical applications.
authors: Institute for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Hospitalstraße 4, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, 24105 Kiel, Germany. obruhn@pharmakologie.uni-kiel.de.
authors: Oliver
authors: O
authors: Bruhn
authors: Joachim
authors: J
authors: Grötzinger
authors: Ingolf
authors: I
authors: Cascorbi
authors: Sascha
authors: S
authors: Jung
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D006736:Horses; D009928:Organ Specificity; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides