The antimicrobial peptide CRAMP is a regulator of inflammation during pneumonia

Antimicrobial peptides are effector molecules of the innate immune system. The only peptide of the cathelicidin family found in the mouse is called cathelin related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP) and is homologous to the human peptide LL-37. The aim of this study was to characterize the role of CRAMP during pneumonia. We infected CRAMP-deficient and wild-type (WT) mice with Pseudomonas aeruginosa NH57388A. CRAMP showed considerable in vitro antimicrobial activity against this bacterium (MIC=4µg/ml). However, significantly less CFU could be cultured from the lungs of the CRAMP-deficient mice than from lungs of the…