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Science 1 October 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5437, p. 9
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5437.9i
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This Week in Science

Antimicrobial peptides are found on mucosal surfaces, such as in the lungs or in the intestines, and are thought to be one of the body's first lines of defense against bacterial invasions. However, what their true role is has been difficult to assess, because they are a large family of cleaved proteins that come from multiple genes. Wilson et al. (p. 113) report that mice that lack the matrix metalloproteinase matrilysin, which is produced by the same cells in the gut that produce the a-defensin antimicrobial peptides, also lack the cleaved forms of the peptides and were more susceptible to infection. Matrilysin was able to cleave the defensins in vitro. Thus, matrilysin may be responsible for regulation of defensin activity in vivo and may be key to innate immunity.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)