Abstract
Host-defense peptides (HDPs) are vital components of innate immunity in all vertebrates. While their antibacterial activity toward bacterial cells was the original focus for research, their ability to modulate immune and inflammatory processes has emerged as one of their major functions in the host and as a promising approach from which to develop novel therapeutics targeting inflammation and innate immunity. In this review, with particular emphasis on the cathelicidin family of peptides, the roles of natural HDPs are examined in managing immune activation, cellular recruitment, cytokine responses, and inflammation in response to infection, as well as their contribution(s) to various inflammatory disorders and autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, we discuss current efforts to develop synthetic HDPs as therapeutics aimed at restoring balance to immune responses that are dysregulated and contribute to disease pathologies.
Highlights
Host defense peptides (HDPs) have evolved across all species of animals and are recognized as vital components of innate immune processes (Haney et al, 2019a; Mookherjee et al, 2020)
While no general mechanism has been described for all HDPs, several features of the immunomodulatory response to HDPs have been described for a variety of cell types
Since the repertoire and cell/tissue distribution of cathelicidins varies by species, we focus below on discussing the expression and activity of the human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene found on chromosome 3p21 (Elloumi and Holland, 2008)
Summary
Host defense peptides (HDPs) have evolved across all species of animals and are recognized as vital components of innate immune processes (Haney et al, 2019a; Mookherjee et al, 2020). We discuss studies demonstrating that cathelicidins, such as LL-37, have a primary role in modulating the (innate) immune response which is robust, complex, and occurs under physiological conditions both in vitro and in animal models.
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