0000000000135673
AUTHOR
Olaf Pinkenburg
The host defence peptide LL-37/hCAP-18 is a growth factor for lung cancer cells
Cancer development can be viewed as dysregulated repair. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are effector molecules of the innate immune system with direct antimicrobial activity. Beside this host defence function several AMPs play a role in the regulation of inflammation and tissue repair. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the human cathelicidin AMP LL-37/hCAP-18 is involved in the biology of lung cancer. Human cancer cell lines were found to express the human cathelicidin LL-37/hCAP-18 mRNA and peptide at different levels. Immunohistochemistry of human lung cancers showed that the peptide is expressed mostly in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Application of exo…
IL-17 and TNF-α Are Key Mediators of Moraxella catarrhalis Triggered Exacerbation of Allergic Airway Inflammation
Alterations of the airway microbiome is often associated with pulmonary diseases. For example, detection of the bacterial pathogen Moraxella catarrhalis in the upper airways is linked with an increased risk to develop or exacerbate asthma. However, the mechanisms by which M. cattarhalis augments allergic airway inflammation (AAI) remains unclear. We here characterized the cellular and soluble mediators of M. catarrhalis triggered excacerbation of AAI in wt and IL-17 deficient as well as in animals treated with TNF-alpha and IL-6 neutralizing antibodies. We compared the type of inflammatory response in M. catarrhalis infected, HDM-allergic and animals infected with M. catarrhalis at differen…