Antiviral defense & LPS neutralization

Against viruses and against the poison of dead bacteria

LL-37 reach extends past living bacteria. Added to infected cell cultures it lowers viral load, it ferries an immune second messenger into cells, and, in a distinct trick, it neutralizes the proinflammatory activity of LPS, the endotoxin shed by gram-negative bacteria that can trigger septic shock.

This unit covers both, and it is careful about what each result is. Every antiviral finding behind it is a cell-culture experiment with peptide added to the dish, and the sepsis work is in mice, in one case using the mouse peptide rather than the human one. These roles are where LL-37 is most studied as a potential therapeutic, and they are still a long way from a person.