ISI Web of Knowledge Take the next step  
Web of Science®
 
Previous Record (inactive) Record 1  of  1 Next Record (inactive)
Record from Web of Science®
Human beta-defensin-1: An antimicrobial peptide of urogenital tissues
Author(s): Valore EV, Park CH, Quayle AJ, Wiles KR, McCray PB, Ganz T
Source: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION    Volume: 101    Issue: 8    Pages: 1633-1642    Published: APR 15 1998  
Times Cited: 381     References: 47     
Abstract: Antimicrobial peptides are widely distributed mediators of innate host defense in animals and plants. A 36 amino acid antimicrobial peptide belonging to the defensin family, and named human beta-defensin-1 (HBD-1), was purified recently from hemodialysate fluid, but its tissue sources were not identified. By Northern blotting, we found the highest concentrations of HBD-1 mRNA in the kidney and the female reproductive tract. In situ hybridization localized the HBD-1 mRNA in the epithelial layers of the loops of Henle, distal tubules, and the collecting ducts of the kidney and the epithelial layers of the vagina, ectocervix, endocervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes in the female reproductive tract. Using a novel technique designed to detect cationic peptides in urine, we recovered several forms of HBD-1 ranging in length from 36 to 47 amino acid (aa) residues and differing from each other by amino terminal truncation. The total concentration of HBD-1 forms in voided urine was estimated at 10-100 mu g/liter, with individual variations in the total amount of HBD-1 peptides and the relative proportion of HBD-1 forms. Multiple forms of HBD-1 (size 36-47 aa) were also found in the blood plasma, bound to carrier macromolecules that released the peptide under acid conditions, and in vaginal mucosal secretions (39, 40, and 44 aa). By immunostaining, HBD-1 was located in the kidney within the lumen of the loops of Henle, but no intracellular storage sites were identified in renal or female reproductive tissues. Recombinant HBD-1 forms (36, 39, and 42 aa) and natural HBD-1 forms were antimicrobial to laboratory and clinical strains of Escherichia coli at micromolar concentrations. HBD-1 activity was not changed appreciably by low pH, but was inhibited by high salt conditions. Some of the HBD-1 peptides retained their activity against E. coli in unconcentrated (low conductance) urine, and the 36 aa form was microbicidal even in normal (high conductance) urine. Production of HBD-1 in the urogenital tract could contribute to local antimicrobial defense.
Document Type: Article
Language: English
Reprint Address: Ganz, T (reprint author), UCLA, Sch Med, Dept Med, CHS 37-055, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
Addresses:
1. UCLA, Sch Med, Dept Med, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
2. UCLA, Sch Med, Will Rogers Inst Pulm Res, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
3. Harvard Univ, Brigham & Womens Hosp, Dept Obstet Gynecol & Reprod Biol, Boston, MA 02138 USA
4. Univ Iowa, Dept Pediat, Iowa City, IA 52240 USA
Publisher: ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1114 FIRST AVE, 4TH FL, NEW YORK, NY 10021 USA
Subject Category: Medicine, Research & Experimental
IDS Number: ZJ234
ISSN: 0021-9738
Previous Record (inactive) Record 1  of  1 Next Record (inactive)
Record from Web of Science®
  
Thomson Reuters Logo