First line of defense in early human life.
Yoshio. Hiroyuki H; Lagercrantz. Hugo H; Gudmundsson. Gudmundur H GH; Agerberth. Birgitta B
Key Findings
- LL-37 is detected in the skin of newborn babies
- Neonatal neutrophils and vernix contain LL-37 and alpha-defensins
- LL-37 and other peptides have immune-modulating functions like chemotaxis
Practical Outcomes
- For most adult biohackers the findings are not directly actionable. The study mainly shows how the body’s own defenses work in early life, so it doesn’t provide dosage or protocol advice for longevity or performance.
Summary
LL-37 is a natural antimicrobial protein that’s already present in newborns – in their skin, immune cells and the protective coating called vernix. It helps fight germs and also signals other parts of the immune system.
Abstract
Innate antimicrobial peptides are considered to play an important role in host defense against microbial invasion. They are expressed in a wide variety of organisms. In the case of human beings, defensins and the cathelicidin LL-37 appear to be the major microbicidal peptides. With respect to human neonates, only few investigations have been performed in this context, revealing the presence of alpha-defensins and LL-37 in neutrophils and vernix caseosa. In addition, beta-defensins are present in tracheal aspirates and breast milk, whereas LL-37 has been detected in the skin of the newborn baby. During recent years, immunomodulatory activities such as chemotaxis have emerged as important functions of antimicrobial peptides. Thus, these innate effectors may work synergistically to provide a first line of defense against infection, as well as to promote interactions between the innate and adaptive immunity in newborn infants.
Study Information
pubmed
2004
10.1053/j.semperi.2004.08.008