Recent advances in the research and development of human defensins

Human defensins are a family of cationic antimicrobial peptides with molecular weights of 4–5 kDa, containing a conserved six disulphide-linked cysteine motif. During the last two decades a series of endogenous α- and β-human defensins were discovered. They exhibit a broad range of antimicrobial properties and are thought to be ideal therapeutic agents because of their potential ability to circumvent the problems of acquired resistance often observed with other antimicrobial therapies. Because of their appealing medical and pharmaceutical potential there has been an emphasis on human defensins in medical and molecular biology research in recent years. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of recent advances in the study of human defensins including their discovery, classification, molecular properties, expression, mechanisms of action and potential medical applications. In addition, the advances in producing human defensins via genetic engineered cells are summarized from research works in our group (besides host cells including E. coli, B. subtilis and yeast systems, the cell-free protein synthesis system was also employed to express human β-defensin-2) along with other related published works. The present challenges and prospects for the potential application of human defensins are also discussed.