Sialic acids are a diverse family of monosaccharides widely expressed on all cell surfaces of vertebrates and so-called "higher" invertebrates, and on certain bacteria that interact with vertebrates. This overview surveys examples of biological roles of sialic acids in immunity, with emphasis on an evolutionary perspective. Given the breadth of the subject, the treatment of individual topics is...

Toxocara canis (Nematoda: Ascaridae) is an intestinal nematode parasite of dogs, which can also cause disease in humans. Transmission to humans usually occurs because of direct contact with T. canis eggs present in soil contaminated with the feces of infected dogs. This nematode has extraordinary abilities to survive for many years in different tissues of vertebrates, and deve...

Great efforts in the field of solid organ transplantation are being devoted to identifying biomarkers that allow a transplanted patient's immune status to be established. Recently, it has been well documented that epigenetic mechanisms like DNA methylation and histone modifications regulate the expression of immune system-related genes, modifying the development of the innate and adaptive immun...

t is now widely recognized that the evolving atherosclerotic esion has nearly all of the characteristics of a chronic nflammatory disease, including the active participation of any arcs of immune function. That immune mechanisms lay an important, if not dominant, role once atherosclerosis as been initiated is attested to by scores of examples in hich manipulations of both adaptive and innate im...

Total parenteral nutrition is the final option for nutritional support of patients with severe intestinal failure. Lipid emulsions constitute the main source of fuel calories and fatty acids (FAs) in parenteral nutrition formulations. However, adverse effects on patient outcomes have been attributed to the use of lipids, mostly in relation to impaired immune defenses and altered inflammatory re...

Development of "immune-based targeted therapy" in oncology has limited experience with signal pathway modulation. However, as we have become better versed in understanding immune function related to anticancer response, "hints" of specific targets associated with sensitivity and resistance have been identified with targeted immune therapy. This brief review summarizes the relationship of severa...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), are chronic inflammatory demyelinating disorders of central nervous system (CNS). While the cause is unclear, the fundamental mechanism is thought to be destruction of myelin sheaths of neurons through immune system. One of the approaches being proposed in EAE therapy is neural stem cells (NSCs) trans...