TY - JOUR
T1 - Mechanisms of disease
T2 - Defensins in gastrointestinal diseases
AU - Wehkamp, Jan
AU - Fellermann, Klaus
AU - Herrlinger, Klaus R.
AU - Bevins, Charles L
AU - Stange, Eduard F.
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - Defensins are endogenous antibiotics with microbicidal activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa. In the gastrointestinal tract, defensins help regulate the composition and number of colonizing microbes, and protect the host from food-borne and water-borne pathogens. In health, the normal host relationship with the commensal luminal microbiota is beneficial, but the same commensal bacteria could have a pathogenic role in inflammatory diseases. A disturbance in antimicrobial defense, as provided by Paneth cells of the small intestine, seems to be a critical factor in the pathogenesis of ileal Crohn's disease, an inflammatory disease of the intestinal tract. The disruption of the critical balance between antimicrobial peptides and luminal bacteria might also explain other gastrointestinal infections and diseases. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms involved in the regulation and biology of defensins could open up new therapeutic avenues.
AB - Defensins are endogenous antibiotics with microbicidal activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa. In the gastrointestinal tract, defensins help regulate the composition and number of colonizing microbes, and protect the host from food-borne and water-borne pathogens. In health, the normal host relationship with the commensal luminal microbiota is beneficial, but the same commensal bacteria could have a pathogenic role in inflammatory diseases. A disturbance in antimicrobial defense, as provided by Paneth cells of the small intestine, seems to be a critical factor in the pathogenesis of ileal Crohn's disease, an inflammatory disease of the intestinal tract. The disruption of the critical balance between antimicrobial peptides and luminal bacteria might also explain other gastrointestinal infections and diseases. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms involved in the regulation and biology of defensins could open up new therapeutic avenues.
KW - Crohn's disease
KW - Defensins
KW - Gastrointestinal infection
KW - Gastrointestinal inflammation
KW - Intestinal bacteria
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U2 - 10.1038/ncpgasthep0265
DO - 10.1038/ncpgasthep0265
M3 - Article
C2 - 16265431
AN - SCOPUS:27144520307
VL - 2
SP - 406
EP - 415
JO - Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology
JF - Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology
SN - 1759-5045
IS - 9
ER -