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. 2008 Jul;128(7):1863-6.
doi: 10.1038/sj.jid.5701235. Epub 2008 Jan 17.

Sebocytes express functional cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides and can act to kill propionibacterium acnes

Dong-Youn Lee, Kenshi Yamasaki, Jennifer Rudsil, Christos C Zouboulis, Geon Tae Park, Jun-Mo Yang, Richard L Gallo

Sebocytes express functional cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides and can act to kill propionibacterium acnes

Dong-Youn Lee et al. J Invest Dermatol. 2008 Jul.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors state no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Cathelicidin is present in sebaceous glands isolated from normal scalp, in isolated sebaceous gland extracts, and in SZ95 sebocytes, where it is inducible by 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3
(a) PCR amplification of hCAP18 mRNA from three independent isolates of normal scalp human sebaceous glands. (b) Histological sections of normal human scalp tissue examined for cathelicidin expression by immunohistochemistry with the anti-LL37 antibody. Human cathelicidin peptide was detected in both vertical and transverse scalp sections, and in eccrine structures, including glands and ducts. No staining was detected in the tissue sections stained with preimmune IgG. (c) Human sebaceous gland extracts evaluated by western blot with antibody to LL-37. Right two lanes show a single band at a size consistent with the expected 5-kDa mature form of LL-37 and similar to the LL-37 synthetic peptide in the left two lanes. (d) Real-time RT-PCR for hCAP18 SZ95 sebocytes treated with 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 or the vehicle for 24 hours. (e) Real-time RT-PCR for hCAP18 in SZ95 treated with P. acnes culture supernatant for 24 hours. (f) SZ95 sebocytes treated with the vehicle, or 100 nM 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 for 24 hours and stained with anti-LL-37 antibody or preimmune IgG. (g) Analysis of cathelicidin in SZ95 sebocyte extracts evaluated by ELISA. (h) Real-time RT-PCR for CYP24A1 in SZ95 treated with 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 (100 nM) or with the vehicle for 24 hours. (i) SZ95 sebocytes stained with anti-vitamin D receptor antibody. (j) Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization–time of flight–mass spectrometry analyses of cathelicidin isolated from SZ95 sebocyte extracts. A peak at 4,496-Da corresponding to the mature LL-37 peptide was detected in SZ95 sebocytes (**P < 0.01; Student’s t-test, Bars = 20 μm). GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Synthetic LL-37 peptide, acid-soluble protein extracts of SZ95 sebocytes, and psoriasin kill S. aureus and P. acnes. LL-37 and psoriasin show a synergistic effect against P. acnes
The antimicrobial activity of synthetic LL-37 (a, b), acid-soluble protein extracts of SZ95 sebocytes (c, d), and psoriasin (e, f) was evaluated against S. aureus (a, c, e) and P. acnes (b, d, f, g) by solution killing assay. Bacteria were incubated for 3 hours at 37 °C in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.5) supplemented with 100 mM NaCl. Recombinant psoriasin was a gift from A. Büchau and S. Kellermann, Dermatology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany. Values are percentage of living bacteria compared with the control. Data shown are representative of triplicate determinations from three independent experiments.
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