Background The intestine is inhabited by a tremendous number of microorganisms, which provide many benefits to nutrition, metabolism and immunity. Mucosal barriers by intestinal epithelial cells make it possible to maintain the symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and the host by separating them. Recent evidence indicates that mucosal barrier dysfunction contributes to the developm...

Vaccination represents the most effective control measure in the fight against infectious diseases. Local mucosal immune responses are critical for protection from, and resolution of, infection by numerous mucosal pathogens. Antigen processing across mucosal surfaces is the natural route by which mucosal immunity is generated, as peripheral antigen delivery typically fails to induce mucosal imm...

Fish epidermal mucus contains innate immune components, secreted by globlet cells that provide the primary defence against different pathogenic microbes and act as a barrier between fish and its immediate niche. The major function of mucus includes entrapment and sloughing of microbes. The mucus also contains many factors such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), lysozymes, lectins, proteases, etc...

The polio eradication endgame aims to bring transmission of all polioviruses to a halt. To achieve this aim, it is essential to block viral replication in individuals via induction of a robust mucosal immune response. Although it has long been recognized that inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) is incapable of inducing a strong mucosal response on its own, it has recently become clear that IPV...

It is well known that mucosal tissues contain the largest surface area of the human body and are the front line of natural host defense against various pathogens. In fact, more than 80% of infectious disease pathogens probably gain entry into the susceptible human hosts through open mucosal surfaces. Human immunodeficiency virus type one (HIV-1), a mainly sexually transmitted virus, also primar...

Infection of mice with the intestinal bacterial pathogen Citrobacter rodentium results in colonic mucosal hyperplasia and a local Th1 inflammatory response similar to that seen in mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease. In these latter models, and in patients with Crohn's disease, neutralization of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is of therapeutic benefit. Since there is no informat...

The presence and activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific antibodies were analyzed in the sera of 15 sexually exposed seronegative persons who had systemic HIV-specific cell-mediated immunity and IgA-mediated mucosal immunity and in their HIV-infected partners. The HIV-positive subjects had HIV-specific serum IgG and IgA; the seronegative persons had HIV-specific serum IgA in the...

Naturally acquired protective immunity against Neisseria meningitidis is thought to partially explain the disparity between the high levels of carriage in the human nasopharynx and the rare incidence of disease. To investigate this immunity to Neisseria meningitidis at the mucosal level, in vitro cellular responses to outer membrane vesicle preparations derived from this pathogen were examined ...

Infections have been proposed as initiating factors for inflammatory disorders; however, identifying associations between defined infectious agents and the initiation of chronic disease has remained elusive. Here, we report that a single acute infection can have dramatic and long-term consequences for tissue-specific immunity. Following clearance of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, sustained inflam...

As sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) occurs via the mucosa, an ideal HIV-1 vaccine should induce both mucosal and systemic immunity. We therefore sought to evaluate the induction of mucosal responses using a DNA env prime-gp120 protein boost approach in which sequential nasal and parenteral protein administration was performed with two novel carbohydrate-based adjuva...