New roles for mast cells in modulating allergic reactions and immunity against pathogens

The Role of Mast Cells in the Defence against Pathogens

Mast cells are leukocytes that are derived from haematopoietic progenitor cells. They circulate in the blood in an immature form before migrating to vascularised tissues, where they undergo final differentiation and maturation with the help of stem-cell factor and other cytokines secreted by endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Mast cells are found in most tissues of the body, particularly in loc...

Dendritic Cells in Tolerance and Immunity against Pathogens.

1Laboratory of Antigen Targeting to Dendritic Cells, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, 05508-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil 2Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP/EPM), 04023-062 São Paulo, SP, Brazil 3Emory Vaccine Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University Sc...

Physiological and Pathological Roles for MicroRNAs: Implications for Immunity Complications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding regulatory RNAs molecules with a size of approximately 22 nucleotides that are implicated in regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional regulatory levels. Inflammatory disorders especially autoimmune diseases (ADs) occur from an abnormal immune response of body against cells of their own specific tissues or multiple organ systems leading to ch...

[Mast cells in allergic diseases].

Mast Cells in Allergic Asthma and Beyond

Mast cells have been regarded for a long time as effector cells in IgE mediated type I reactions and in host defence against parasites. However, they are resident in all environmental exposed tissues and express a wide variety of receptors, suggesting that these cells can also function as sentinels in innate immune responses. Indeed, studies have demonstrated an important role of mast cells dur...