Biomaterial Database

Reduced antimicrobial peptide expression in human burn wounds. 1999

S M Milner, and M R Ortega

Institute for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield 62794, USA.

Severely burned skin ceases to perform its natural protective role and surrenders itself as a nidus and portal for bacterial invasion. Antimicrobial peptides are part of a non-specific chemical defence system, separate from cellular and humoral immunity. Two of these peptides, human beta-defensins 1 and 2 have been recently found in skin and are produced by keratinocytes. Beta defensins have potent bactericidal activity against a wide spectrum of bacterial and fungal organisms commonly responsible for burn wound infections. To date, expression of beta defensins has not been examined in the human burn wound. Our findings demonstrate that expression of hBD-2 is greatly decreased in the burn wound whereas hBD-1 appears to be preserved. These results may have important implications in the pathogenesis and treatment of invasive burn sepsis.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011506	Proteins	Linear POLYPEPTIDES that are synthesized on RIBOSOMES and may be further modified, crosslinked, cleaved, or assembled into complex proteins with several subunits. The specific sequence of AMINO ACIDS determines the shape the polypeptide will take, during PROTEIN FOLDING, and the function of the protein.	Gene Products, Protein,Gene Proteins,Protein,Protein Gene Products,Proteins, Gene
D002056	Burns	Injuries to tissues caused by contact with heat, steam, chemicals (BURNS, CHEMICAL), electricity (BURNS, ELECTRIC), or the like.	Burn
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012867	Skin	The outer covering of the body that protects it from the environment. It is composed of the DERMIS and the EPIDERMIS.
D014946	Wound Infection	Invasion of a wound by pathogenic microorganisms.	Infection, Wound,Infections, Wound,Wound Infections
D016133	Polymerase Chain Reaction	In vitro method for producing large amounts of specific DNA or RNA fragments of defined length and sequence from small amounts of short oligonucleotide flanking sequences (primers). The essential steps include thermal denaturation of the double-stranded target molecules, annealing of the primers to their complementary sequences, and extension of the annealed primers by enzymatic synthesis with DNA polymerase. The reaction is efficient, specific, and extremely sensitive. Uses for the reaction include disease diagnosis, detection of difficult-to-isolate pathogens, mutation analysis, genetic testing, DNA sequencing, and analyzing evolutionary relationships.	Anchored PCR,Inverse PCR,Nested PCR,PCR,Anchored Polymerase Chain Reaction,Inverse Polymerase Chain Reaction,Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction,PCR, Anchored,PCR, Inverse,PCR, Nested,Polymerase Chain Reactions,Reaction, Polymerase Chain,Reactions, Polymerase Chain
D023082	Defensins	Family of antimicrobial peptides that have been identified in humans, animals, and plants. They are thought to play a role in host defenses against infections, inflammation, wound repair, and acquired immunity.	Defensin
D023083	beta-Defensins	DEFENSINS found mainly in epithelial cells.	beta-Defensin,beta Defensin,beta Defensins