
An especially elaborate and important type of innate antimicrobial enzymes defense is provided by a group of serum proteins that together make up the complement cascade pathway. This group comprises more than two dozen different liver-and macrophage-derived proteins, called complement factors or components, most of which normally circulate in the form of proenzymes that have latent protease activity. As a rule, each of the proteases becomes active when proteolytically cleaved and will then catalyze cleavage and activation of a different complement component. (more…)
Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important ...
A few of the best known humoral effectors of innate immunity are listed in Table 1 bellow, along with the types of target molec ...
With the exception of complement protein C3, most soluble mediators of innate immunity are found in relatively small amounts in ...
Some of the immediate sequelae of injury are uncomfortably familiar: Soon after an injury occurs, the affected site and its sur ...
Bacteria cause allergic disease because of toxicity, invasiveness, immunopathology, or lends of these three mechanisms. Thus much ...

Some of the immediate sequelae of injury are uncomfortably familiar: Soon after an injury occurs, the affected site and its surrounding tissues become reddened, warm, swollen, and painful. These four signs which are probably the most useful and ubiquitous diagnostic clues in all of clinical medicine are hallmarks of acute inflammation, the body’s initial physiologic reaction to tissue distress. In its simplest form, inflammation is a response carried out by blood vessels and by the endothelial cells that line them. (more…)
The response to injury usually begins with dilatation of small blood vessels in and around the injured site (figure bellow). Th ...
Once it is tethered onto the venule wall, the neutrophil or other leukocyte comes into contact with a wide variety of inflammatory ...
Acute inflammatory response constitute the first line of defense against infection pathogenesis and how immune system works as ...
Nearly all tissues, organs, and serosal cavities harbor a population of resident phagocytes. Most contain only a diffuse scattering ...
Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important ...

A few of the best known humoral effectors of innate immunity are listed in Table 1 bellow, along with the types of target molecules they recognize. Some are enzymes that can directly injure or kill microbial pathogens. An example is lysozyme, an endoglycosidase found in human saliva, mucus, tears, and other secretions, which attacks the protective cell wall encasing every bacterial cell. Lysozyme acts by digesting the peptidoglycan meshwork formed by long carbohydrate chains of alternating N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetylglucosamine residues, crosslinked covalently by short oligopeptide sidechains which is a major constituent of all bacterial cell walls but is not found in mammalian tissues. (more…)
An especially elaborate and important type of innate antimicrobial enzymes defense is provided by a group of serum proteins tha ...
One especially favored target for immune recognition is bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This macromolecule is found only in ...
The body's innate resistance to many pathogens is provided by enzymes and other proteins in the blood and tissue fluids. These ...
With the exception of complement protein C3, most soluble mediators of innate immunity are found in relatively small amounts in ...
Although it is commonly imagined that hematopoiesis takes place in a liquid environment resembling the blood, with progenitors resp ...

Breast milk contains a variety of bioactive substances, among them soluble CD14 (sCD14), which plays an important role in innate immunity. The authors analysed data of a large prospective birth cohort study to examine the determinants of sCD14 in breast milk, and investigated whether breast-feeding practice and sCD14 concentrations in breast milk are determinants of the risk of Atopic Dermatitis and asthma in children. Eight hundred and three mothers and their newborn infants were included in this analysis. (more…)
The prevalence of atopic dermatitis is increasing in Western societies. The hygiene hypothesis proposes that this is due to red ...
The protective effect of breast-feeding on asthma and allergy has been debated for more than 60 years without any hope of a con ...
Atopic Dermatitis is considered to be one of the first manifestations in the atopic march. The aim of this study was to investi ...
If the breast-fed baby is lactose intolerant (usually a temporary condition following intestinal infection at this age), moth ...
If an exclusively breast-fed baby is exhibiting the type of allergic to milk symptoms previously discussed, the mother will i ...

Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement of inflammatory cells in the induction of airway smooth muscle growth was studied in vivo and ex vivo in a brown Norway rat model of asthma. Transfer of CD4 + T lymphocytes from ovalbuminsensitized animals induced an increase in airway smooth muscle mass in naive animals upon repeated ovalbumin challenge. Ex vivo, coculture of antigen-stimulated CD4 + T cells and airway smooth muscle cells led to myocyte proliferation and prolonged T-cell survival. (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) act as receptors for numerous stimuli of immune cells, including bacterial cell wall constituents (l ...
A role for Leukotriene B4 in the induction of airway hyper-responsiveness was explored through the use of transgenic mice defic ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has ...
Eosinophil infiltration of the mucosa is a feature of asthmatic airways. Their adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells has been ...
While our primary concern is the impact that the innate immune system has on allergic disease, it is essential to recognize that allergic disease also impacts on the function- ing of the innate immune system. In part this is through treatment, since immunosuppressive therapies inevitably contribute to impairment of immunity at the levels of the innate and adaptive systems. (more…)
Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important ...
Innate immunity depends on both resident and recruited leukocytes. The macrophage without doubt plays an import- ant role in the de ...
Contact of pathogens with the innate immune system will most frequently occur at epithelia, and the biology of the airway epitheliu ...
Activation of the innate immune system is an integral part of the pathology of allergic diseases such as asthma, with a dual role t ...
Exacerbations of asthma are frequently associated with rhinoviral infection. Rhinoviruses infect respiratory epithelial cells, ...