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Host Defense Peptides in Brief

Suzana Popovic

Suzana Popovic

University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Microbiology and ImmunologySerbia
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Popovic, Suzana
  
Aug 11, 2025
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Article Category: Review Paper
Published Online: Aug 11, 2025
Received: Oct 10, 2021
Accepted: Dec 12, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjecr-2021-0033
Keywords
© 2021 Suzana Popovic et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Immunomodulatory properties
Immunomodulatory properties

Mechanisms of HDPs antimicrobial activity

Antibacterial
Mechanism of action HDPs Target organism Reference
Permeabilization of the outer and the inner membrane HNP4 E. coli, E. aerogenes, En. faecalis, S. aureus, B. cereus (46)
Membrane dysfunction Lactoferrin V. cholerae, S. typhimurium, E. coli. (47)
Inhibition of cell wall synthesis BMAP-28 A. baumannii (48)
Polymixin E E. coli, P. aeruginosa (49)
RTD-1 E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus (50)
Mersacidin B. cereus M. luteus S. simulans (51) (52)
Seminalplasmin E. coli (53)
HNP-1 C. difficile (54)
hBD3 S.aureus, E. faecium (55) (10)
Inhibition of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis tPMP-1 and tPMP-2 S.aureus (11)
Pleurocidin E. coli (56)
Apidaecins, oncocins E. coli
Activation of the microbial autolytic systems RTD-1 and RTD-2 S. aureus, S. simulans, S. carnosus
Antiviral
Viral envelopes lysis LL-37 Vaccinia virus (13)
Interference with viral adsorption and/or entry into the cell Dermaseptins HSV1 (14)
HNPs-1 - 3, HD-5 HPV (17)
HNP-1 HSV1 (18)
NP-1 HSV2 (19)
HD5 HIV1 (57)
β-defensin-2 and HBD-3 HIV1 (58)
Inhibition of replication Melittin, Cecropin HIV1 (15)
Alpha-defensin-1 HIV1 (20)
β-defensin-2, HBD-3 HIV1 (58) (21)
LL-37 HIV1 (59)
Blocking expression of viral genes HNP-1 and HBD-2 HIV1 (16)
LL-37, mCRAMP Influenza A virus (22)
Retrocyclin 2 H5N1 (60)
HNP2, HDP HSV2
Antifungal
Membrane lysis Cecropin B, Dermaseptin A. flavus, A. fumigates, A. niger, F. moniliforme, F. oxysporum (24)
Ranalexin, Magainin II Candida spp, Cryptococcus (27)
Inhibition of fungal chitin synthase Nikkomycins X and Z C. immitis, B. dermatitidis (30, 31)
Inhibition of sphingolipid synthesis Aureobasidin A S. cerevisiae (32)
Disruption of actin assembly and chitin delocalization Aureobasidin A S. cerevisiae (61)
Induction of reactive oxygen species RsAFP2 C. albicans (62) (63)
HsAFP1 S. cerevisiae (64)
Induction of ion fluxes DmAMP1 (65)
Cell cycle progression impairment RsAFP2 N. crassa (66)
Psd1 N. crassa
Antiparasitic
Membrane permeabilisation NK-lysin P. falciparum (42)
T. cruzi (43)
Oocyst development and sporozoite production Magainin 2, Cecropin B Plasmodium spp. (44)
Membrane disruption, morphological changes, apoptosis induction bLF (45)
G. intestinalis
Language:
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Journal Subjects:
Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Clinical Medicine, other
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