Pieter S. Hiemstra • Sebastian A. J. Zaat
Editors
2013
Antimicrobial peptides have been the subject of intense research in the past decades and are now considered as an essential part of the defense system in bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. Whereas lysozyme was identified in the 1920s, research on the smaller antimicrobial peptides started later. Pioneering work in, e.g., insects provided evidence for the central role that these so called endogenous antibiotics play in host defense against infection. This is further supported by the observation that these peptides have been conserved throughout evolution and that they are present in vertebrates and invertebrates, plants, and microorganisms. Studies on antimicrobial peptides in cystic fibrosis that were performed in the 1990s prompted a range of research efforts that were aimed to define their role in disease development and progression.
Antimicrobial Peptides and Innate Immunity
