Abstract
Plant defensins are antimicrobial peptides that exhibit mainly antifungal activity against a broad range of plant fungal pathogens. However, their actions against Candida albicans have not been extensively studied. The mRNA for gamma-thionin, a defensin from Capsicum chinense, has been expressed in bovine endothelial cells. The conditioned medium of these cells showed antifungal activity on germ tube formation (60-70% of inhibition) and on the viability of C. albicans (70-80% of inhibition). Additionally, C. albicans was not able to penetrate transfected cells. Conditioned medium from these cells also inhibited the viability (80%) of the human tumor cell line, HeLa.
Publication types
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
-
Animals
-
Antifungal Agents / metabolism
-
Antifungal Agents / pharmacology
-
Antineoplastic Agents / metabolism
-
Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
-
Candida albicans / cytology
-
Candida albicans / drug effects*
-
Capsicum / genetics
-
Capsicum / metabolism*
-
Cattle
-
Cell Survival / drug effects*
-
Cells, Cultured
-
Defensins / genetics
-
Defensins / metabolism*
-
Defensins / pharmacology*
-
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
-
Endothelial Cells / metabolism*
-
HeLa Cells
-
Humans
-
Protein Engineering / methods
-
Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
-
Recombinant Proteins / pharmacology
Substances
-
Antifungal Agents
-
Antineoplastic Agents
-
Defensins
-
Recombinant Proteins