Microbes are in our midst soon after birth. Thankfully, the number of harmless (and often beneficial) microbes far outnumber those that would do us harm. Our ability to ward-off pathogens in our environment, including those that can colonize our exterior and/or interior surfaces, depends on the integrative action of the innate and adaptive immunity systems. This volume of CTMI, entitled Antimicrobial Peptides and Human Disease, is dedicated to the role of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the innate host defense system of homo sapiens.

Inhalt
Paneth Cell ?-Defensin Synthesis and Function.- Immunomodulatory Properties of Defensins and Cathelicidins.- Host Antimicrobial Defence Peptides in Human Disease.- Antimicrobial Peptides: An Essential Component of the Skin Defensive Barrier.- Antimicrobial Peptides Versus Invasive Infections.- Antimicrobial Peptides in the Airway.- HepcidinA Peptide Hormone at the Interface of Innate Immunity and Iron Metabolism.- Innate Host Defense of Human Vaginal and CervicalMucosae.- Molecular Mechanisms of Bacterial Resistance to Antimicrobial Peptides.- Bacterial Evasion of Antimicrobial Peptides by Biofilm Formation.