Avian beta-defensin nomenclature: A community proposed update

Abstract

DNA vaccination has emerged as a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy. However, since DNA vaccines have low immunogenicity, various strategies have been developed to enhance the potency of DNA vaccines. In the current study, we aim to determine whether the potency of the DNA vaccine encoding human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E7 antigen can be enhanced by IL-2. We have generated a DNA vaccine encoding IL-2 linked to HPV-16 E7 antigen. Our results indicate that the DNA vaccine encoding a fusion of IL-2 and E7 proteins generated the highest frequency of E7-specific CD8(+) T cells. We also found that the DNA vaccine encoding a fusion of IL-2 and E7 proteins generated the strongest protective as well as therapeutic anti-tumor effect against E7-expressing tumors. In addition, it was observed that CD8(+) T cells were mainly responsible for the antitumor effect generated by the DNA vaccine encoding a fusion of IL-2 and E7 proteins. Thus, we conclude that the linkage of IL-2 to HPV-16 E7 antigen significantly enhances the DNA vaccine potency against E7-expressing tumors. Our strategy may potentially be used in other antigenic systems to control infectious diseases and/or cancer.

Sodium butyrate in chicken nutrition: the dynamics of performance, gut microbiota, gut morphology, and immunity

“…Host defence peptides (HDPs), also known as antimicrobial peptides, exist in almost all forms of life and are an integral part of innate immunity (Brogden et al, 2003;Ganz, 2003). Chicken genome encodes for 14 β-defensins (AvBD1-14) and four cathelicidins (fowlicidins 1-3 and cathelicidin-B1) as a member of HDPs system (Goitsuka et al, 2007;Lynn et al, 2007;Sunkara et al, 2011). HDPs exhibit their properties as broad spectrum antimicrobials against bacteria, enveloped viruses, fungi, and protozoa by direct binding and lysis of microbial membranes (Ganz, 2003), which prevents the development of resistance to HDPs in pathogens.…”

The long view: a bright past, a brighter future? Forty years of chicken immunology pre- and post-genome

“…In comparison with mammals, chickens have different repertoires of Toll-like receptors (Boyd et al, 2007;Temperley et al, 2008;Cormican et al, 2009), defensins (Lynn et al, 2007), cytokines , chemokines Hughes et al, 2007), antibodies (as discussed above) and other immune molecules (Kaiser, 2007(Kaiser, , 2010. As can be seen from the references quoted, most of this knowledge post-dates the sequencing of the chicken genome (International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium, 2004).…”

Differential antimicrobial peptide gene expression patterns during early chicken embryological development

“…AMPs are evolutionarily ancient and abundant e ector components of the innate immune arsenal in many species of eukaryotes [5,6] , and endowed with antimicrobial, chemotactic and immunomodulatory properties [7,8] . The two major families of AMP genes in the chicken are b-defensins (with three disulphide bridges, and previously referred to as gallinacins [9] ) and cathelicidins (CTHL), which are longer peptides with two bridges.…”