title: Antimicrobial peptides and gut microbiota in homeostasis and pathology.
abstract: We survive because we adapted to a world of microorganisms. All our epithelial surfaces participate in keeping up an effective barrier against microbes while not initiating ongoing inflammatory processes and risking collateral damage to the host. Major players in this scenario are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Such broad-spectrum innate antibiotics are in part produced by specialized cells but also widely sourced from all epithelia as well as circulating inflammatory cells. AMPs belong to an ancient defense system found in all organisms and participated in a preservative co-evolution with a complex microbiome. Particularly interesting interactions between host barrier and microbiota can be found in the gut. The intestinal cell lining not only has to maintain a tightly regulated homeostasis during its high-throughput regeneration, but also a balanced relationship towards an extreme number of mutualistic or commensal inhabitants. Recent research suggests that advancing our understanding of the circumstances of such balanced and sometimes imbalanced interactions between gut microbiota and host AMPs should have therapeutic implications for different intestinal disorders.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch-Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart, Germany and University of Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Maureen J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ostaff
authors.forename: Eduard Friedrich
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Stange
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wehkamp
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D064307:Microbiota; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
keywords: antimicrobial peptides; defensin; epithelial differentiation; intestinal homeostasis; microbiota
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