Granulysin-derived peptides demonstrate antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects against Propionibacterium acnes.

Propionibacterium acnes is a key therapeutic target in acne, yet this bacterium has become resistant to standard antibiotic agents. We investigated whether the human antimicrobial protein granulysin is a potential candidate for the treatment of acne. Granulysin and synthetic granulysin-derived peptides possessing a helix-loop-helix motif killed P.

Activation of Toll-like receptor 2 on human tracheobronchial epithelial cells induces the antimicrobial peptide human beta defensin-2.

As pattern recognition receptors capable of eliciting responses to a diverse array of microbial products, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) participate in the activation of host defense mechanisms that protect against infectious pathogens. Given that epithelial cells lie at the interface between the host and its environment, we designed experiments to determine whether human airway epithelial cells express TLRs and respond to TLR agonists. Immunohistochemical labeling of TLR2 in normal human airways revealed TLR2 expression throughout the epithelium, with an apparently higher level of expression on noncolumnar basal epithelial cells.