The extent of the innate immune response is regulated by many positively and negatively acting signaling proteins. This allows for proper activation of innate immunity to fight infection while ensuring that the response is limited to prevent unwanted complications. Thus mutations in innate immune regulators can lead to immune dysfunction or to inflammatory diseases such as arthritis or atherosc...

In a complex environment, higher organisms face the constant threat of microbial infection. To defend against this onslaught of potential pathogens, all known members of the plant and animal kingdoms use an innate immune system. A key component of innate immunity is the production of small, cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs). In mammals, recent discoveries from gene therapy and gene-knocko...

Innate immunity was for a long time considered to be non-specific because the major function of this system is to digest pathogens and present antigens to the cells involved in acquired immunity. However, recent studies have shown that innate immunity is not non-specific, but is instead sufficiently specific to discriminate self from pathogens through evolutionarily conserved receptors, designa...

Viral components induce strong type I IFN responses through the activation of toll-like receptors (TLRs) and intracellular cytoplasmic receptors such as an RNA helicase RIG-I and/or MDA5. According to recent studies, the NF-κB essential modulator NEMO (also called IKKγ) is crucial for this virus-induced antiviral response. However, the precise roles of signal activation by NEMO adaptor have not...