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• Chow, B
• Soto, M
• Lo, B
• Crosby, D
• Camerini, D
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• Soto, M
• Lo, B
• Crosby, D
• Camerini, D
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• Chow, B
• Soto, M
• Lo, B
• Crosby, D
• Camerini, D

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Polymers 2012, 4(1), 747-758; doi:10.3390/polym4010747

Article

Antibacterial Activity of Four Human Beta-Defensins: HBD-19, HBD-23, HBD-27, and HBD-29

Bryan T. Chow ^† , Maira Soto ^† , Bonnie L. Lo, David C. Crosby and David Camerini*

Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA ^† These authors contributed equally to this work.

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 1 February 2012; in revised form: 21 February 2012 / Accepted: 21 February 2012 / Published: 1 March 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antibacterial Polymers: From Natural Inspiration to Practical Applications)

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Abstract: Human β-defensins (HBD) are a family of small antimicrobial peptides that play important roles in the innate and adaptive immune defenses against microbial infection. In this study, we predicted the mature sequences and assessed the antibacterial properties of synthetic HBD-19, HBD-23, HBD-27, and HBD-29 against three species of clinically relevant bacteria: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We also examined the cytotoxicity of each β-defensin to human cells. HBD-19 exhibited modest antibacterial effects against E. coli and S. aureus but had little effect on the growth of P. aeruginosa. HBD-23 exhibited substantial antibacterial effects against all three bacterial species and was particularly potent against the Gram-negative species, E. coli and P. aeruginosa. HBD-27 exerted modest antibacterial activity only towards S. aureus while HBD-29 had modest antibacterial activity for E. coli and P. aeruginosa. HBD-23 and HBD-27 showed little or no toxicity to human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, while HBD-19 and HBD-29 decreased cell viability by 20% at 30 μg/mL.

Keywords: β-defensin; antibacterial; Escherichia coli; Staphylococcus aureus; Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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