Research
LL-37
A 37-amino-acid peptide produced naturally by human immune and epithelial cells — the only cathelicidin found in humans.
Available in the catalogue
Supplied as research material. Sizes and pricing are on the product page. Availability is not a statement about what a compound does.
What is being investigated
Directions the published work points at, and how far each has actually got. These are open questions, not established effects: most of what looks promising in cells does not replicate in animals, and most of what works in animals does not work in people. Nothing here is a claim about what this compound does for anyone.
- Activity against antibiotic-resistant organisms
Disrupting a membrane is a physical mechanism rather than a biochemical target, so the question is whether resistance can develop to it as readily as it does to conventional antibiotics. Studied against bacterial isolates and biofilms.
Cell and tissue studies
- Chronic wound healing
Taken into randomised trials in hard-to-heal venous leg ulcers, which is the only direction here with controlled human data behind it.
Human trials
- Immune signalling in its own right
Separately from killing anything, it recruits immune cells and influences wound closure. That second role is why the literature treats it as a signalling molecule rather than as an antimicrobial with side effects.
Animal studies
Published research
Every reference below was checked against the published record before being listed, with the model each study used.
- Fabisiak et al. (2016)Pharmacological Reports · 68(4):802–8
A review of the peptide's antimicrobial activity and its wider immunological roles.
review of in vitro and in vivo work Source
Further reading
Longer articles on handling, analysis and what the published work reports.
- LL-37 cathelicidin: what the research says
The only cathelicidin humans make, with a physical antimicrobial mechanism and a published randomised trial in venous leg ulcers. Also genuinely double-edged.
- How to store research peptides
Lyophilised peptides at -20°C, reconstituted at 2–8°C, ambient in transit. Why the dry cake tolerates shipping, and what actually degrades a vial.
- Peptide shelf life and stability
How long lyophilised and reconstituted peptides keep, and the four things that shorten it: temperature, moisture, light and oxidation. Storage figures included.
- How to reconstitute lyophilised peptides
How to reconstitute a lyophilised peptide with bacteriostatic water without damaging it: why you run the liquid down the vial wall and never shake it.