VPS13B and infection: Protease activity alone did not fully account for the reduction of LL-37 in GBS- and UPEC-infected cells as protease inhibitor treatment did not significantly rescue LL-37 production during infection with COH1 (mean, 5.9 ng/ml for COH1 with PI; mean 4.6 ng/ml COH1 infection alone) or CFT073 (mean, 3.1 ng/ml CFT073 with PI; mean, 5.3 ng/ml for CFT073 infection alone) compared to that in uninfected controls (PI treatment mean, 1.3 ng/ml; no-treatment mean, 13.0 ng/ml) (Fig. 2G).