Abstract
Defensins are endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) produced by professional phago- cytes, Paneth cells, and epithelial cells at mucosal surfaces, which mediate innate immunity through their potent antimicrobial activity in the intestinal tract. In addition, defensins also regulate the function of diverse host immune cells, thereby play an important role in both innate and adaptive immune responses against pathogenic microbes. Abundant evidences have proved that attenuated changes in defensins expression are observed in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Further studies have discovered the concentration of different defensins subgroups has the relationship with various clinical characteristics of IBD and that mucosal surface destruction causes defensins deficiency as a result of in- flammatory damage. This article is to review new current approaches on defensins expression in the intestinal mucosa, particularly in IBD and their potential roles in immune responses in the gut mucosa.
Highlights
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic, relapsing disease of the gastrointestinal tract
Defensins are multifunctional antibacterial peptides produced by professional phagocytes, Paneth cells, and intestinal epithelial cells
As an essential member of innate and adaptive immune responses which are directed against luminal bacteria in the gut, the deficiency in the expression and/or function of defensins could result in an increasing risk of intestinal infections
Summary
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic, relapsing disease of the gastrointestinal tract. The interest in the innate immune function in IBD pathogenesis has led to the research of host immune defense response. Defensins are member of the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) family They are endogenous antibiotics with microbicidal activity against a wide variety of bacteria and protect the host from the gastrointestinal tract pathogens. Recent evidence suggests that they can act with host immune cells, thereby playing important roles in both the innate and adaptive immune responses [6,7,8]. The expression and regulation of defensins produced in the intestinal mucosa have been proved to be altered in IBD. It is not clear whether the abnormal defensins production is a pathogenic factor in IBD or the consequence of epithelial damage. The bacterial invasion of the mucosa could not be controlled and the inflammation got into a perpetuation
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