Carving a Niche for Antibacterial α-Defensins when Craving

Elisabeth G Foerster; Stephen E Girardin

doi:10.1016/j.chom.2019.04.009

Carving a Niche for Antibacterial α-Defensins when Craving

Cell Host Microbe. 2019 May 8;25(5):632-634. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.04.009.

Authors

Elisabeth G Foerster¹, Stephen E Girardin²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: stephen.girardin@utoronto.ca.

PMID: 31071290
DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.04.009

Abstract

In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Liang et al. (2019) show that α-defensins in the gastrointestinal tract sustain defenses to enteric pathogens during starvation. mTOR-dependent sensing of nutrient loss promotes production of an α-defensin regulator, which sustains α-defensin levels, loss of which increases lethality during bacterial infection.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Anti-Infective Agents*
Craving
Intestinal Mucosa
Nutrients
alpha-Defensins*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
alpha-Defensins