IAI FigSearch
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bals, R.
Right arrow Articles by Wilson, J. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bals, R.
Right arrow Articles by Wilson, J. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, November 1999, p. 6084-6089, Vol. 67, No. 11
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Augmentation of Innate Host Defense by Expression of a Cathelicidin Antimicrobial Peptide

Robert Bals,1 Daniel J. Weiner,1,2 A. David Moscioni,1 Rupalie L. Meegalla,1 and James M. Wilson1,*

Institute for Human Gene Therapy, Departments of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, and The Wistar Institute,1 and Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,2 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Received 20 April 1999/Returned for modification 16 June 1999/Accepted 5 August 1999

Antimicrobial peptides, such as defensins or cathelicidins, are effector substances of the innate immune system and are thought to have antimicrobial properties that contribute to host defense. The evidence that vertebrate antimicrobial peptides contribute to innate immunity in vivo is based on their expression pattern and in vitro activity against microorganisms. The goal of this study was to investigate whether the overexpression of an antimicrobial peptide results in augmented protection against bacterial infection. C57BL/6 mice were given an adenovirus vector containing the cDNA for LL-37/hCAP-18, a human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide. Mice treated with intratracheal LL-37/hCAP-18 vector had a lower bacterial load and a smaller inflammatory response than did untreated mice following pulmonary challenge with Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Systemic expression of LL-37/hCAP-18 after intravenous injection of recombinant adenovirus resulted in improved survival rates following intravenous injection of lipopolysaccharide with galactosamine or Escherichia coli CP9. In conclusion, the data demonstrate that expression of an antimicrobial peptide by gene transfer results in augmentation of the innate immune response, providing support for the hypothesis that vertebrate antimicrobial peptides protect against microorganisms in vivo.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 3601 Spruce St., 204 Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4268. Phone: (215) 898-3000. Fax: (215) 898-6588. E-mail: wilsonjm{at}mail.med.upenn.edu.

Infection and Immunity, November 1999, p. 6084-6089, Vol. 67, No. 11
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. J. Virol. Eukaryot. Cell
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. All ASM Journals

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.