Antibody Fc: Linking Adaptive and Innate Immunity

Antibody Fc: Linking Adaptive and Innate Immunity, edited by Margaret E. Ackerman and Falk Nimmerjahn and published by Academic Press, provides a highly detailed examination of the involvement of the antibody Fc in mechanisms critical to both innate and adaptive immune responses. Despite a recent increase in format diversity, most marketed antibodies are full-length IgG molecules and the majority of the commercial clinical pipeline of antibody therapeutics is composed of Fc-containing IgG molecules, which underscores the importance of understanding how the Fc domain affects biological responses. The book is divided into six sections that include a total of 20 chapters. In order of their appearance, the sections provide extensive coverage of effector mechanisms, effector cells, Fc receptors, variability of the Fc domain, genetic associations, and evolving areas.     

Autophagy and Inflammatory Cell Death,Partners of Innate Immunity

Alas, it is the law of the evolutionary jungle that any host defen! se mechanism that efficiently kills microbes also exerts a strong selective pressure for tolerant variants to emerge. A silver lining in this otherwise dark cloud is that pathogens can be exploited as powerful tools to examine host defense mechanisms. Recent studies of the confrontation between macrophages and the opportunistic pathogen Legionella pneumophila have revealed a regulatory mechanism that may link autophagy to pyroptosis. Building from the extensive literature on autophagy, cell death, and innate immunity, we propose here a testable model in which the NOD-LRR protein Naip5 dictates whether macrophages elevate autophagy or pyroptosis as a barrier to infection.     

细菌病原体突破天然免疫系统的策略

近10年来,天然免疫和病原微生物两个相关领域研究取得了巨大进展。面对功能完备的天然免疫系统,一些病原微生物感染宿主的机制逐步进化了,并且病原体通过此进化避免被识别,促进或避免炎症的产生。事实证明,病原体不仅能在天然免疫反应中幸存,而且还能利用天然免疫反应来提高它的致病性。     

siRNA与固有免疫

转染小干扰RNA片段（small interfering RNA, siRNA）被广泛用于沉默基因表达.外源性核酸短链的进入能激活Toll样受体,触发免疫应答,促进机体炎症因子的表达与释放. siRNA还能活化双链RNA依赖性蛋白激酶（dsRNA-dependent protein kinase,PKR）等胞内模式识别受体,通过免疫反应引起机体功能障碍.siRNA的免疫效应与其核苷酸链的长短、碱基序列、核糖结构等密切相关,相应的化学修饰能阻断其激活模式识别受体,抑制固有免疫应答.本文综述了近年来siRNA对固有免疫应答的分子机制,为改善基因沉默效应和拓展该技术的临床应用提供有益帮助.     

The Itaconate Pathway Is a Central Regulatory Node Linking Innate Immune Tolerance and Trained Immunity

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植物核质运输与其先天免疫研究进展

植物为了抵御病原菌的侵染而进化出一套独特的先天免疫系统,它主要通过定位在细胞膜或细胞质上的受体介导并激活下游抗病基因表达而实现,但在这些信号传递过程中,细胞质的信号向核传递需要核质运输相关元件的参与。虽然目前只有个别核质运输的信号元件被证实参与了植物的先天免疫信号传递过程,但越来越多的研究表明核质运输是连接抗病基因表达和信号识别受体的一个主要方式。研究发现,病原菌的效应因子也可以利用植物核质运输机制侵入到宿主细胞核内,调控敏感基因的表达,干扰植物的免疫反应。该文对近年来国内外有关植物的核质运输机制、各层次免疫反应需要核质运输作用、核质运输相关蛋白在免疫反应中的作用等方面对核质运输参与植物先天免疫反应研究的研究进展进行综述,并指出该领域未来研究的主要内容和方向。     

抗病毒天然免疫研究

病毒是一种极具感染性和传染性的病原微生物．当病毒感染机体以后,机体会通过激活免疫系统来进行防御．高等哺乳动物的免疫系统分为两大类：适应性免疫系统和天然免疫系统．适应性免疫系统主要通过T淋巴细胞和B淋巴细胞特异性地识别入侵的病毒并将其清除．而天然免疫系统主要通过模式识别受体识别病毒的入侵,进而产生一系列的细胞因子抵抗病毒的入侵．其中,天然免疫系统作为抵御病毒入侵的第一道防线和激活后续适应性免疫的先决条件在整个抗病毒免疫反应中发挥着十分重要的作用．     

Autophagy in Infection and Immunity: A Brief Introduction

No abstract available.     

Glycolipid Sensing and Innate Immunity in Paracoccidioidomycosis

Distinct glycolipid profiles are described in microorganisms, which have been shown to modulate the innate immune system. We tested the hypothesis that glycosphingolipids from Paracoccidioides brasiliensis have immunomodulatory properties on monocytes and dendritic cells of two groups of healthy individuals, one cured of paracoccidioidomycosis in the past (CUR-I) and the other nonexposed to P. brasiliensis (HNE-I). Two classes of glycosphingolipids purified from yeast cells were evaluated: a neutral glycosphingolipid, monohexosylceramide (CMH), and acidic glycosylinositolphosphorylceramides (GIPCs). Both glycosphingolipids affected the functioning of innate immunity cells, interfering with the antigen presenting process: P. brasiliensis yeast cells phagocytosis, IL-10 secretion, and costimulatory molecules and recognition receptors expression by monocytes were altered, while dendritic cell antigen presentation to autologous T cells was markedly down-modulated as shown by reduced T-cell proliferative responses. The mechanisms by which CMH and GIPCs exert their effects differ since the target cells did not always respond similarly to the challenge with the glycosphingolipids. Moreover, CUR-I and HNE-I presented different responses to the glycosphingolipids. Differences not only in the glycosphingolipid structure (such as the polar head group or the ceramide moiety), but also in the innate immunity properties of CUR-I and HNE-I, may underlie these differences and contribute to individual’s susceptibility or resistance to develop paracoccidioidomycosis.     

Role of Autophagy in Innate Viral Recognition

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) detect viruses in the acidified endosomes via Toll-like receptors (TLRs) upon endocytosis of virions. Yet, pDC responses to certain single-stranded RNA viruses occur only following live viral infection. In our recent study, we presented evidence that the recognition of such viruses by TLR7 requires autophagy. We speculate that the requirement for autophagy in viral recognition reflects the necessity for transportation of cytosolic viral replication intermediates into the lysosome where TLR7 is activated. In addition, autophagy was found to be required for pDCs to produce type I interferon (IFN) in response to both ssRNA and dsDNA viruses. These results indicated that autophagy plays a key role in mediating virus detection and IFNα secretion in pDCs, and suggest that cytosolic replication intermediates of ssRNA viruses serve as pathogen signatures recognized by TLR7.

Addendum to:

Autophagy-Dependent Viral Recognition by Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells

H.K. Lee, J.M. Lund, B. Ramanathan, N. Mizushima and A. Iwasaki

Science 2007; In press