초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Mamalian epithelia produce the various anti-microbial peptides against the bacterial or viral infection, thereby acting as the active imune modulators in the innate immunity. In this study, we examined the efects of the various proin-flamatory cytokines or LPS on cell viability and antimicrobial β-defensin gene expressions in human corneal epithelial cels. Results showed that the cytokines or LPS did not exert severe cytotoxic effects on the cells, and that β-de-fensin 1 was constitutively expressed, while β- defensin 2 was specifically induced by IL-1β, supporting the idea that these cytokines or LPS involve the defense mechanism in the cornea. Furthermore, the reporter and gel shift asay to define the induction mechanism of β-defensin 2 by IL-1β demonstrated that the most proximal NF-κB site on the promoter region of β-defensin 2 was not critical for the process. Data obtained ocular diseases showed that our in vitro results were relevant in the clinical settings. Our results clearly demonstrated that β-defensin 1 and 2 are important antimicrobial peptides in the corneal tisues, and that the mechanistic induction proces of β-defensin 2 by IL-1β is not solely dependent on proximal NF-κB site activation, thus suggesting that the long distal portion of the promoter is neded for the ful respon-siveness toward IL-1β.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
β-defen-sins; cornea; corneal epithelium; gene expression regulation; interleukin-1β
