The reproductive activity of Trypanosoma lewisi was strikingly enhanced and sometimes prolonged for 2 days when sublethal doses of adenine were given to rats. The drug was effective when given for 5 or 7 days in the diet and/or intraperitoneally, starting one or two days before infection through two days after infection. Peak parasitemia was also enhanced. In terms of host immunity, daily suble...

The increased incidence of infection and malignancy in elderly individuals has prompted many studies that demonstrate that the aging immune system is impaired. Most of these studies have focused on the impairment of acquired immunity provided by lymphocytes. While defects in acquired humoral and T-cell-mediated immunity may exist, increased susceptibility to infection may result from defects in...

Psoriasis is a common inflammatory disease affecting 1% of the Brazilian population. Th17 and Th1cells are involved with the immunopathogenisis of psoriasis. In this article it is discussed the interaction between the innate immunity (especially dendritic cells and keratinocytes) and adaptive immunity (T lymphocytes) in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

The review covers basic recent discoveries on the mechanism of action of adjuvants, which have been developed in the last decade. In particular, it focuses on the activation of TOLL like receptors and subsequent release of pro-inflammatory lymphokines (innate immunity), which, in turn, are thought to activate antigen specific responses (adaptive immunity). Given the number of novel adjuvants av...

The phenomenon of chimerism is reviewed against an understanding of adaptive immunity in vertebrates. It is shown that chimerism can be regarded as a ubiquitous condition and this suggests that monophylesis has played little part in evolution. It is suggested that the adaptive immune response has a special role in facilitating the development of chimerism and that the consensus view of adaptive...

Host protection from invading pathogens involves cellular and humoral effectors and results from the concerted action of both non-adaptive (innate) and adaptive (acquired) immunity. The latter is based on specific immunological recognition mediated by clonally distributed receptors, is a recent acquisition of the immune system, and is present only in vertebrates. The former evolved well before ...

Atopic dermatitis/eczema is a chronically relapsing, pruritic, and inflammatory skin disease. The term "atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome" covers the "extrinsic" and "intrinsic" atopic dermatitis. The pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis includes complex interaction between the genetic background, skin barrier defects, abnormalities in innate and adaptive immunity, abnormalities of humoral and cel...

The activation-induced deaminase (AID)/APOBEC cytidine deaminases participate in a diversity of biological processes from the regulation of protein expression to embryonic development and host defenses. In its classical role, AID mutates germline-encoded sequences of B cell receptors, a key aspect of adaptive immunity, and APOBEC1, mutates apoprotein B pre-mRNA, yielding two isoforms important ...

Although cancer immunotherapy has shown significant promise in mediating efficacious responses, it remains encumbered by tumor heterogeneity, loss of tumor-specific antigen targets, and the regulatory milieu both regionally and systemically. Cross talk between the innate and adaptive immune response may be requisite to polarize sustained antigen specific immunity. Cancer vaccines can serve as a...

Induction of adaptive immunity leads to the establishment of immunological memory; however, how innate immunity regulates memory T cell function remains obscure. Here we show a previously undefined mechanism in which innate and adaptive immunity are linked by TIR domain-containing adapter-inducing beta interferon (TRIF) during establishment and reactivation of memory T cells against Gram-negati...