ArticleInfection and immunity2015
New role for human α-defensin 5 in the fight against hypervirulent Clostridium difficile strains.
Article in Infection and immunity, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Combating Bacterial Infections with Vitamin D-Induced Antimicrobial Peptides.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- The Black Soldier FlyCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2025Article
- Virulence factors, antibiotic susceptibility and sequence type distribution of hospital-associated Clostridioides difficile isolates in Israel, 2020-2022.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Battling Enteropathogenic Clostridia: Phage Therapy forFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- Article
- Bacteriophage endolysins as a potential weapon to combatGut microbes · 2020Review
- Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of Clostridium difficile infections.Emerging microbes & infections · 2018Review
- Human Antimicrobial Peptides in Bodily Fluids: Current Knowledge and Therapeutic Perspectives in the Postantibiotic Era.Medicinal research reviews · 2018Review
- A Novel Bacteriophage Lysin-Human Defensin Fusion Protein Is Effective in Treatment ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2018Article
- Oral Administration of Probiotics Increases Paneth Cells and Intestinal Antimicrobial Activity.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Article
- Bile Acid Administration Elicits an Intestinal Antimicrobial Program and Reduces the Bacterial Burden in Two Mouse Models of Enteric Infection.Infection and immunity · 2017Article
- Perspectives for clinical use of engineered human host defense antimicrobial peptides.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2017Review
- A Review of Experimental and Off-Label Therapies for Clostridium difficile Infection.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2017Review
- Defensins, lectins, mucins, and secretory immunoglobulin A: microbe-binding biomolecules that contribute to mucosal immunity in the human gut.Critical reviews in biochemistry and molecular biology · 2017Review
- Neutrophil-mediated inflammation in the pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile infections.Anaerobe · 2016Review
- Memory B Cells Encode Neutralizing Antibody Specific for Toxin B from the Clostridium difficile Strains VPI 10463 and NAP1/BI/027 but with Superior Neutralization of VPI 10463 Toxin B.Infection and immunity · 2016Article
- Endogenous antimicrobial factors in the treatment of infectious diseases.Central-European journal of immunology · 2016Review
- Diagnosing Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea using enzyme immunoassay: the clinical significance of toxin negativity in glutamate dehydrogenase-positive patients.Infection and drug resistance · 2016Article
- Clostridium difficile PCR Ribotype 018, a Successful Epidemic Genotype.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), one of the most common hospital-acquired infections, is increasing in incidence and severity with the emergence and diffusion of hypervirulent strains. CDI is precipitated by antibiotic treatment that destroys the equilibrium of the gut microbiota. Human α-defensin 5 (HD5), the most abundant enteric antimicrobial peptide, is a key regulator of gut microbiota homeostasis, yet it is still unknown if C. difficile, which successfully evades killing by other host microbicidal peptides, is susceptible to HD5. We evaluated, by means of viability assay, fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis, and electron microscopy, the antimicrobial activities of α-defensins 1 and 5 against a panel of C. difficile strains encompassing the most prevalent epidemic and hypervirulent PCR ribotypes in Europe (012, 014/020, 106, 018, 027, and 078). Here we show that (i) concentrations of HD5 within the intestinal physiological range produced massive C. difficile cell killing; (ii) HD5 bactericidal activity was mediated by membrane depolarization and bacterial fragmentation with a pattern of damage peculiar to C. difficile bacilli, compared to commensals like Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis; and (iii) unexpectedly, hypervirulent ribotypes were among the most susceptible to both defensins. These results support the notion that HD5, naturally present at very high concentrations in the mucosa of the small intestine, could indeed control the very early steps of CDI by killing C. difficile bacilli at their germination site. As a consequence, HD5 can be regarded as a good candidate for the containment of hypervirulent C. difficile strains, and it could be exploited in the therapy of CDI and relapsing C. difficile-associated disease.
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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.