Biochemistry

Diabetic foot ulcers constitute a major health problem in patients with diabetes and often precede amputations. These ulcers are often infected with pathogenic bacteria resistant to common antibiotics. About the role of host defense peptides (antimicrobial peptides) in the ulcer pathogenesis still exist limited information. It is supposed that they play the major role in the elimination of the infection, in the stimulation of immune response of the organism and in the healing of such wounds. These peptides belong to the families of human - and -defensins (cationic peptides of the molecular mass 3-5 kDa with -sheet structure and three disulfide bridges) and cathelicidin (37 amino acid residues linear -helical peptide). To elucidate the role of the host defense peptides in the process of ulcer healing they will be isolated from the wound exudates and tissues taking from the foot ulcers of diabetic patients and then studied in the laboratory. The study will be done in the collaboration with the Diabetes Centre, IKEM, Prague.