title: The multiple facets of dermcidin in cell survival and host defense.
abstract: Eccrine sweat glands, which are distributed over the whole bodies of primates and humans, have long been regarded mainly to have a function in thermoregulation. However, the discovery of dermcidin-derived antimicrobial peptides in eccrine sweat demonstrated that sweat actively participates in the constitutive innate immune defense of human skin against infection. In the meantime, a number of studies proved the importance of dermcidin in skin host defense. Several reports also state that peptides processed from the dermcidin precursor protein exhibit a range of other biological functions in neuronal and cancer cells. This review summarizes the evidence gathered until now concerning the expression of dermcidin and the functional relevance of dermcidin-derived peptides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. birgit.schittek@med.uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schittek
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; C442243:dermcidin