ArticleInfection and immunity2009
Human alpha-defensins inhibit hemolysis mediated by cholesterol-dependent cytolysins.
Article in Infection and immunity, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Novel endogenous protein-based strategies to inhibit clinically relevant bacterial AB-type toxins including pertussis toxin.Archives of toxicology · 2026Review
- Capsule and PspA Cooperatively Confer Resistance ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Effects of Bile on PathogenicBiomolecules · 2025Article
- Human neutrophil α-defensin HNP1 interacts with bacterial OmpA to promote Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm formation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- HNP-1: From Structure to Application Thanks to Multifaceted Functions.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Understanding the Dynamics of Human Defensin Antimicrobial Peptides: Pathogen Resistance and Commensal Induction.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2024Review
- Resistance is futile: targeting multidrug-resistant bacteria withRSC chemical biology · 2023Review
- Article
- Defensins: A Double-Edged Sword in Host Immunity.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Review
- Human α-Defensin-5 Efficiently NeutralizesFrontiers in pharmacology · 2020Article
- Translating Recent Microbiome Insights in Otitis Media into Probiotic Strategies.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2019Review
- Targeting and inactivation of bacterial toxins by human defensins.Biological chemistry · 2017Review
- Positive- and Negative-Control Pathways by Blood Components for Intermedilysin Production in Streptococcus intermedius.Infection and immunity · 2017Article
- Listeriolysin O: from bazooka to Swiss army knife.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Review
- Full Sequence Amino Acid Scanning of θ-Defensin RTD-1 Yields a Potent Anthrax Lethal Factor Protease Inhibitor.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2017Article
- Bacterial Virulence Factors: Secreted for Survival.Indian journal of microbiology · 2017Review
- Retrocyclins neutralize bacterial toxins by potentiating their unfolding.The Biochemical journal · 2015Article
- Human defensins facilitate local unfolding of thermodynamically unstable regions of bacterial protein toxins.Immunity · 2014Article
- Multifaceted activity of listeriolysin O, the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin of Listeria monocytogenes.Sub-cellular biochemistry · 2014Review
- The pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O is degraded by neutrophil metalloproteinase-8 and fails to mediate Listeria monocytogenes intracellular survival in neutrophils.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many pathogenic gram-positive bacteria release exotoxins that belong to the family of cholesterol-dependent cytolysins. Here, we report that human alpha-defensins HNP-1 to HNP-3 acted in a concentration-dependent manner to protect human red blood cells from the lytic effects of three of these exotoxins: anthrolysin O (ALO), listeriolysin O, and pneumolysin. HD-5 was very effective against listeriolysin O but less effective against the other toxins. Human alpha-defensins HNP-4 and HD-6 and human beta-defensin-1, -2, and -3 lacked protective ability. HNP-1 required intact disulfide bonds to prevent toxin-mediated hemolysis. A fully linearized analog, in which all six cysteines were replaced by aminobutyric acid (Abu) residues, showed greatly reduced binding and protection. A partially unfolded HNP-1 analog, in which only cysteines 9 and 29 were replaced by Abu residues, showed intact ALO binding but was 10-fold less potent in preventing hemolysis. Surface plasmon resonance assays revealed that HNP-1 to HNP-3 bound all three toxins at multiple sites and also that solution-phase HNP molecules could bind immobilized HNP molecules. Defensin concentrations that inhibited hemolysis by ALO and listeriolysin did not prevent these toxins from binding either to red blood cells or to cholesterol. Others have shown that HNP-1 to HNP-3 inhibit lethal toxin of Bacillus anthracis, toxin B of Clostridium difficile, diphtheria toxin, and exotoxin A of Pseudomonas aeruginosa; however, this is the first time these defensins have been shown to inhibit pore-forming toxins. An "ABCDE mechanism" that can account for the ability of HNP-1 to HNP-3 to inhibit so many different exotoxins is proposed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.