Antimicrobial activity does not predict cytokine response to adrenomedullin or its shortened derivatives

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate cytokine release from oral keratinocytes and fibroblasts in response to AM and shortened derivatives previously characterised in terms of their antimicrobial activities. Cells were incubated with AM or its fragments(residues 1-12, 1-21, 13-52, 16-21, 16-52, 22-52, 26-52, and 34-52), and culture supernatants collected after 1, 2, 4, 8, and 24 hours. A time-dependant increase in production of interleukin1-αand interleukin 1-β from keratinocytes in response to all peptides was demonstrated. However,exposure to fragments compared to whole AM resulted in reduced production of these cytokines (60% mean reduction at 24 hours, P