Beta-defensins comprise a family of cationic, antimicrobial and chemoattractant peptides. The six cysteine canonical motif is retained throughout evolution and the disulphide connectivities stabilise the conserved monomer structure. A murine beta-defensin gene (Defr1) present in the main defensin cluster of C57B1/6 mice, encodes a peptide with only five of the canonical six cysteine residues. I...

We examined the activity of defensins, cysteine-rich cationic peptides that are abundant in the cytoplasmic granules of human and rabbit granulocytes, against various tumor targets. The three human defensins, HNP-1, HNP-2, and HNP-3, lysed human and murine targets in chromium release and dye exclusion assays. Defensin-mediated tumor cell lysis was concentration-dependent, inhibited by serum, an...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major worldwide health problem which can cause acute and chronic hepatitis and can significantly increase the risk of liver cirrhosis and primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nowadays, clinical therapies of HBV infection still mainly rely on nucleotide analogs and interferons, the usage of which is limited by drug-resistant mutation or side effects. Def...

Chemokine receptor type 6 (CCR6)⁺CD4⁺ T cells are preferentially infected and depleted during HIV disease progression, but are preserved in non-progressors. CCR6 is expressed on a heterogeneous population of memory CD4⁺ T cells that are critical to mucosal immunity. Preferential infection of these cells is associated, in part, with high surface expression of CCR5, CXCR4, and α4β7. In addition, ...

Anti-microbial peptides are essential for the intestinal innate immunity that protects the intestinal epithelia from attacks by foreign pathogens. Human β-defensin (HBD) is one of the pivotal anti-microbial peptides that are expressed in the colonic epithelia. This study investigated the effect and the signaling mechanism of inducible β-defensin HBD2 by an essential amino acid, isoleucine (Ile)...

Insect defensins are cationic, cysteine-rich peptides (approximately 4 kDa) that appear after bacterial challenge or injury in the hemolymph of insects belonging to a large variety of orders. These peptides possess anti-Gram-positive activity and participate in the potent antibacterial defense reactions of insects. Using recombinant insect defensin and the strain Micrococcus luteus as a test or...

Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) causes acute myocarditis in young pigs or reproductive failure in sows, and it is divided into two main groups. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of EMCV strain BD2, which belongs to group I.

This article describes efforts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2013 to 2016 to train a national workforce in biomedical data science. We provide an analysis of the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) training program strengths and weaknesses with an eye toward future directions aimed at any funder and potential funding recipient worldwide. The focus is on extramurally funded programs t...

The bactericidal activity of the novel beta-defensin hBD-3 against 28 species and 55 strains of gram-positive cocci and gram-negative fermentative and nonfermentative rods was tested. All strains proved to be highly or intermediately susceptible to hBD-3 (minimal bactericidal concentration [MBC], 1...