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Review
. 2017 Apr 19:8:647.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00647. eCollection 2017.

Guardians of the Gut: Enteric Defensins

Sumathi Sankaran-Walters  1 , Ronald Hart  1 , Chantelle Dills  1
Affiliations
Review

Guardians of the Gut: Enteric Defensins

Sumathi Sankaran-Walters et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Enteric defensins likely play a key role in the management of the human microbiome throughout development. The functional and mechanistic diversity of defensins is much greater than was initially thought. Defensin expression and overall Paneth cell physiology likely plays a key role in the development of colitis and other inflammatory or dysbiotic diseases of the gut. As our understanding of enteric defensins grows, their potential as tools of clinical intervention becomes more apparent. In this review, we focus on the function and activity of Paneth Cell defensins and highlight their role in disease.

Keywords: IBD microbiota research; antimicrobial peptide; enteric alpha defensins; mucosal immunity; paneth cells.

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