Published:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015
Published in:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112 (2015) 42, Seite 13039-13044
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1073/pnas.1511197112
ISSN:
0027-8424;
1091-6490
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
Significance Fungi increasingly cause serious medical problems in immunocompromised populations. Antimicrobial peptides are primary effector molecules of innate immune systems. Antimicrobial peptides successfully protect healthy humans from bacterial infections. However, it is largely unknown how and why human body surfaces resist fungal infections. We identified the common epithelial protein, psoriasin (S100A7), in its disulphide-reduced form (redS100A7) as the principal antifungal factor of human body surfaces. redS100A7 kills several pathogenic fungi using a mechanism that differs from conventional antifungal agents. Thus, this study might contribute to a better understanding of human defense systems against fungal infection and the development of urgently needed novel antifungal therapeutics.