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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2001;286:2801.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Antiperspirant aficionados take note: sweat may be good for one's health. Researchers in Germany have discovered that human sweat contains a novel antimicrobial peptide that might constitute one of the first lines of defense against invading microbes.

Researchers from Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen and University of Tübingen, in Germany, discovered a gene (which they named Dermicidin) that encodes an antimicrobial peptide with a broad spectrum of activity against pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The encoded protein, which is dissimilar to other known antimicrobial peptides, is produced in the sweat glands and secreted into sweat. After being processed into a smaller peptide—in the sweat gland or possibly in the sweat itself—the peptide is transported to the skin surface.

The investigators found that the peptide had antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans at pH levels and salt concentrations found in human sweat, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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