FIG. 4.

Effect of the systemic overexpression of LL-37/hCAP-18 in mice on survival after intraperitoneal injection of LPS (in galactosamine-sensitized mice) or gram-negative bacteria. (A) Mice received either lacZ or LL-37 vector on day 1 and were injected with LPS plus galactosamine or E. coli CP9 on day 5. Survival of the animals that were treated with LL-37 vector (Ad.LL-37) (5 × 10¹⁰ particles) was significantly (∗∗, P < 0.05) increased compared to survival of the mice that received the same dose of lacZ control vector (Ad.lacZ) (20 mice in each group). (B) Dose-dependent survival of animals treated with different amounts of LL-37/hCAP-18-encoding virus. Whereas the control group treated with β-galactosidase-encoding vector showed high mortality after injection, the animals that received LL-37 vector showed increased survival rates that correlated with the amount of virus applied and therefore with the level of the LL-37 peptide in serum (10 mice in each group).