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Keywords

Antimicrobial peptides, alpha-defences 1, 2 and 3, inflammation, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases

Disciplines

Architecture | Business | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

The infiltration of immuno-inflammatory cells is one of the earliest and durable steps that lead to atherosclerosis. These cells produce many immune components that act as a double-edged sword in this inflammatory disease. Among these components, we note antimicrobial peptides, including defenses. Defenses are natural cationic peptides of the innate immune system. In Humans, these small peptides have a large antimicrobial spectrum. In addition, they play an important role in both infectious and inflammatory diseases. Our objective was to study the relation between alpha-defenses (DEFA) 1-3 genes expression and cardiovascular risk factors. This objective was built on the hypothesis that defenses may be involved in cardiovascular pathologies, and may serve as a new generation of biomarkers. To verify this hypothesis, we treated HL-60 differentiated cells with glucose decreased alphadefenses 1, 2 and 3 gene expression levels, while insulin treatment restored its expression. These findings suggest that DEFA1-3 are involved in the complex glucose-insulin metabolic pathway. In summary, DEFA1-3 genes expression is significantly correlated with glucose. These findings we suggest that DEFA1-3 could be involved in the evolution of cardiovascular complications.

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