Sophisticated specificity in the innate immune response

Specificity, learning and memory in the innate immune response

Immunity in invertebrates was for long analyzed in terms of the overall response; this resulted in misunderstandings concerning specificity and memory. Recent reports of maternal transmission of immunity, and the discovery of the high diversity of receptors-effectors, have required the status of innate immunity to be reconsidered. There are few examples of obvious specificity towards some patho...

Specificity and complexity of the Caenorhabditis elegans innate immune response.

In response to infection, Caenorhabditis elegans produces an array of antimicrobial proteins. To understand the C. elegans immune response, we have investigated the regulation of a large, representative sample of candidate antimicrobial genes. We found that all these putative antimicrobial genes are expressed in tissues exposed to the environment, a position from which they can ward off infecti...

Neutrophils in the innate immune response.

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs or neutrophils) are an essential component of the human innate immune system. Circulating neutrophils are rapidly recruited to sites of infection by host- and/or pathogen-derived components, which also prime these host cells for enhanced microbicidal activity. PMNs bind and ingest microorganisms by a process known as phagocytosis, which typically triggers prod...

Signaling in the innate immune response.

Pathogen recognition in the innate immune response.

Immunity against microbial pathogens primarily depends on the recognition of pathogen components by innate receptors expressed on immune and non-immune cells. Innate receptors are evolutionarily conserved germ-line-encoded proteins and include TLRs (Toll-like receptors), RLRs [RIG-I (retinoic acid-inducible gene-I)-like receptors] and NLRs (Nod-like receptors). These receptors recognize pathoge...