Immune & Antimicrobial
Histatins
Candida lives in most people's mouths without causing thrush, and histatins are a large part of the reason. These salivary peptides are not repelled by the fungal cell — they are taken up by it, imported through the yeast's own polyamine transporters, and then wreck it from the inside by draining potassium and flooding it with reactive oxygen. Human evidence for the natural peptides is measurement rather than treatment: salivary histatin levels differ between people with heavy dental decay and people with little. A shortened synthetic version, P-113, has gone further, reaching Phase 2 as a topical oral gel with a randomised trial in 106 people reporting less gingivitis, and no natural histatin has been given to anyone as a treatment in any study on file.
Last updated
Mechanism
Cationic peptides taken into fungal cells by polyamine transporters, causing potassium loss, reactive oxygen species, and osmotic collapse.
Reported effects
What sources associate with this compound. Reported categories, not outcomes we have graded — each would need its own citation and rung.
- Oral antifungal research
- Candida colonisation context
- Oral wound healing research
Dosing on file unverified
P-113 histatin derivative: topical oral gel; No established standard dose
Carried from a source that labels it unverified, and reproduced with that label attached. A record of what is reported, not a recommendation. No citation on this page establishes it.
Literature on file 6
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in vitro
Candidacidal Activity of Salivary Histatins (1998, cited 166x) graded on: an in-vitro system — read from the indexed abstract — “in vitro”
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review or editorial
Physicochemical Principles Governing the Intrinsically Disordered Salivary Peptide Histatin 5: Ensemble Structure, Electrostatics, and Environmental Responsiveness. graded on: indexed as "Review" - secondary literature, not a study — “Review”
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human observational
Salivary innate immune peptides are associated with dental caries experience in young adults. graded on: 40 young adults, low- vs high-caries groups, salivary AMPs by ELISA — read from the abstract — “abstract review”
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in vitro
Computer-Aided Rational Modification of Hst 5 Based on Ssa1/2 and the Antifungal Activity of the Derivatives against Candida spp. graded on: AI/docking-guided redesign validated by antifungal assays against Candida albicans — read from the abstract — “abstract review”
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human observational
Salivary antimicrobial peptides histatin-5, beta defensins, human neutrophilic peptides, LL-37, and calprotectin in severe dental caries, with a focus on early childhood caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. graded on: a synthesis of human studies — “systematic review”
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in vitro
From speciation to action: Cu(II) and Zn(II) tune histatins, but pH and enamel drive efficacy. graded on: an in-vitro system — read from the indexed abstract — “in vitro”
Notes unverified prose
RCT (n=106): histatin derivative prevented gingivitis; P-113 (12-mer) Phase 2; P-113 RCT (n=106); Phase 2
Not on file 9
8 of the 8 fields we track hold nothing on this record, and each says why. 1 further absence is named below. A blank field is a bug; a named absence is a finding.
- molecular weightnothing we hold supplies it
- molecular formulanothing we hold supplies it
- CAS registry numbernothing we hold supplies it
- PubChem identifiernothing we hold supplies it
- amino-acid sequencenothing we hold supplies it
- SMILES stringnothing we hold supplies it
- InChInothing we hold supplies it
- InChI keynothing we hold supplies it
- half-lifenothing we hold supplies it
Each field links to every other record missing the same thing. The full ledger holds 765 gaps across 163 records.