Pharmaceuticals 2010, 3(11), 3435-3460; doi:10.3390/ph3113435
Review

Spotlight on Human LL-37, an Immunomodulatory Peptide with Promising Cell-Penetrating Properties

Michèle Seil 1 , Carole Nagant 1 , Jean-Paul Dehaye 1 , Michel Vandenbranden 2  and Marc Ferdinand Lensink 3,* email
1 Laboratoire de Chimie Biologique et Médicale et de Microbiologie Pharmaceutique, Institut de Pharmacie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Boulevard du Triomphe, CP 205/3, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium 2 Laboratoire de Structure et Fonction des Membranes Biologiques, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Boulevard du Triomphe, CP 206/2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium 3 Biological Nanosystems, Interdisciplinary Research Institute, University of Sciences and Technology Lille, USR3078 CNRS, 50 Avenue Halley, F-59658 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 4 October 2010; in revised form: 23 October 2010 / Accepted: 29 October 2010 / Published: 1 November 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cell-penetrating Peptides)
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Abstract: Cationic antimicrobial peptides are major components of innate immunity and help control the initial steps of the infectious process. They are expressed not only by immunocytes, but also by epithelial cells. They share an amphipathic secondary structure with a polar cationic site, which explains their tropism for prokaryote membranes and their hydrophobic site contributing to the destructuration of these membranes. LL-37 is the only cationic antimicrobial peptide derived from human cathelicidin. LL-37 can also cross the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells, probably through special domains of this membrane called lipid rafts. This transfer could be beneficial in the context of vaccination: the activation of intracellular toll-like receptors by a complex formed between CpG oligonucleotides and LL-37 could conceivably play a major role in the building of a cellular immunity involving NK cells.
Keywords: antimicrobial peptides; biofilm; P2X7 receptors; formyl peptide receptors;
cell-penetrating peptides; LL-37; cathelicidin

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Seil, M.; Nagant, C.; Dehaye, J.-P.; Vandenbranden, M.; Lensink, M.F. Spotlight on Human LL-37, an Immunomodulatory Peptide with Promising Cell-Penetrating Properties. Pharmaceuticals 2010, 3, 3435-3460.

AMA Style

Seil M, Nagant C, Dehaye J-P, Vandenbranden M, Lensink MF. Spotlight on Human LL-37, an Immunomodulatory Peptide with Promising Cell-Penetrating Properties. Pharmaceuticals. 2010; 3(11):3435-3460.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Seil, Michèle; Nagant, Carole; Dehaye, Jean-Paul; Vandenbranden, Michel; Lensink, Marc Ferdinand. 2010. "Spotlight on Human LL-37, an Immunomodulatory Peptide with Promising Cell-Penetrating Properties." Pharmaceuticals 3, no. 11: 3435-3460.

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