The invention provides methods for the treatment of disease and promotion ofhealing that include providing a therapeutically effective amount of a mammalianantimicrobial peptide (AMP) or analog thereof, in particular a cathelicidinor cathelicidin fragment or cathelicidin analog, thereby treating the diseasein the subject in need thereof. The invention also provides specific analogsor fragments of cathelicidin that function as agonists, as do endogenous cathelicidins,or as either dominant negatives or as inhibitors to endogenous cathelicidinor to other endogenous AMPs or that compete with pro-inflammatory agents or fragmentsof AMPs on cognate receptors without inducing disease.