Dermcidin: A novel human antibiotic peptide secreted by sweat glands

, which encodes an antimicrobial peptide that has a broadspectrum of activity and no homology to other known antimicrobial peptides.This protein was specificallyand constitutively expressed in the sweat glands,secreted into the sweat and transported to the epidermalsurface. In sweat, a proteolytically processed 47–amino acid peptide was generated that showedantimicrobial activity in response to a variety of pathogenic microorganisms.The activity of the peptide wasmaintained over a broad pH range and in high salt concentrations that resembled the conditions in humansweat.This indicated that sweat plays a role in the regulation of human skin flora through the presence of anantimicrobial peptide.This peptide may help limit infection by potential pathogens in the first few hoursfollowing bacterial colonization.