Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY
Volume 172, Issue 3, Pages 702-713Publisher
AMER SOC INVESTIGATIVE PATHOLOGY, INC
DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2008.070755
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- MRC [G0500067, G0100577] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [G0100577, G0500067] Funding Source: Medline
- Medical Research Council [G0100577, G0500067] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Human defensin (HD)-5 is an antimicrobial peptide expressed in small intestinal Paneth cells, and alterations in HD-5 expression may be important in Crohn's disease (CD) pathogenesis. Levels of HD-5 in Paneth cells and ileostomy fluid from control and CD patients were studied by quantitative immunodot analysis, immunohistochemistry, acid urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis Western blotting, reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography, N-terminal amino acid sequencing I and ES-QToF mass spectrometry. In both control and CD patients, HD-5 in Paneth cell extracts was present almost exclusively in the precursor form. HD-5 levels in ileostomy fluid were lower in CD patients (n = 51) than in controls (n = 20): median (range), 7.9 (5-5 to 35-0) mu g/ml versus 10.5 (6.0 to 30.4) mu g/ml; P = 0.05; this difference was most marked in CD patients with homozygous/compound heterozygous; mutations in NOD2 (P = 0.03). In control ileostoiny fluid, HD-5 was present in the mature form only. In contrast, CD patient ileostomy fluid contained both precursor and mature forms of HD-5, with the majority present in a complex with trypsin, chymotrypsinogen/chymotrypsin, and alpha l-anti-trypsin. Pro-HD-5 was not associated with trypsin or chymotrypsinogen in Paneth cell extracts. In conclusion, pro-HD-5 in the intestinal lumen is processed by trypsin in a complex in which chymotrypsinogen is also cleaved for activation. The persistence of this complex in CD may be attributable to increased luminal levels of proteinase inhibitors such as al-anti-trypsin.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available