Antimicrobial Peptides and Antimicrobial Chemokines
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 24660
Special Issue Editor
Interests: psoriasis; antimicrobial peptides; immunology and microbiology medicine biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology chemistry physics and astronomy engineering materials science environmental science pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural antibiotics produced by epithelial cells or immune cells, and are active against viruses, bacteria and fungi. They are generally cationic, with hydrophobic residues making the folded peptide able to kill pathogens. However, AMPs also have pleiotropic effector functions which act on various cell types, including the cells of the immune system. Given the capacity to induce/regulate inflammatory pathways, some AMPs, such as cathelicidin LL37 or defensins, play a pathogenic role in autoimmune/auto-inflammatory diseases, such as psoriasis or systemic lupus erythematosus. Interestingly, antimicrobial chemokines also exist and can demonstrate similar structures, cationicities and functions. Several investigators have discovered various chemokines (for instance, CXCL7, CXCL10, CXCL4, CXCL6, CCL20) with antimicrobial properties. Among these, CXCL4 and CXCL10 are up-regulated in some autoimmune conditions, and CXCL4 mediates immune amplification in systemic sclerosis. Like the AMPs, antimicrobial chemokines can show a plethora of effector functions which act between antimicrobial activity and inflammation. Improving our understanding of the AMPs/anti-microbial chemokines effects in autoimmunity helps the identification of new biomarkers and therapy targets.
This Special Issue calls for original research papers and reviews on the molecular mechanisms underlying AMPs/antimicrobial chemokines’ involvement in the pathogenesis of human autoimmune/auto-inflammatory diseases. Appropriate animal studies on chronic disease models are also of interest.
Dr. Loredana Frasca
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- antimicrobial peptides
- antimicrobial chemokines
- chronic inflammatory diseases
- autoimmunity
- biomarkers
- therapy targets
- inflammation
- immune regulation
- innate immunity
- adaptive immunity
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