Europe PMC

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

Abstract 


LL-37/hCAP-18 is the only human member of the cathelicidin family and plays an important role in killing various pathogens, as well as in immune modulation. In this study, we investigated the effect of LL-37 on bacterial phagocytosis by macrophages and demonstrate that LL-37 enhances phagocytosis of IgG-opsonized Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria in a dose- and time-dependent manner by dTHP-1 cells. In addition, LL-37 enhanced phagocytosis of nonopsonized Escherichia coli by human macrophages. Consistently, LL-37 elevated the expression of FcγRs on macrophages but not the complement receptors CD11b and -c. Further studies revealed that the expression of TLR4 and CD14 is also increased on LL-37-treated macrophages. Several lines of evidence indicated that the FPR2/ALX receptor mediated LL-37-induced phagocytosis. However, TLR4 signaling was also coupled to the phagocytic response, as a specific TLR4 antibody significantly suppressed phagocytosis of IgG-opsonized E. coli and nonopsonized E. coli by dTHP-1 cells. Finally, macrophages from Cnlp(-/-) mice exhibited diminished bacterial phagocytosis compared with macrophages from their WT littermates. In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel, immune-modulatory mechanism of LL-37, which may contribute to bacterial clearance.

References 


Articles referenced by this article (46)


Show 10 more references (10 of 46)

Citations & impact 


Impact metrics

Jump to Citations

Citations of article over time

Smart citations by scite.ai
Smart citations by scite.ai include citation statements extracted from the full text of the citing article. The number of the statements may be higher than the number of citations provided by EuropePMC if one paper cites another multiple times or lower if scite has not yet processed some of the citing articles.
Explore citation contexts and check if this article has been supported or disputed.
https://scite.ai/reports/10.1189/jlb.0513304

Supporting
Mentioning
Contrasting
6
85
0

Article citations


Go to all (75) article citations