there is growing evidence that lectin-carbohydrate interactions can mediate the infection of parasites to their insect vector. many insect species are host or vectors of protozoan or metazoan parasites that cause socially and economically important disease such as malaria and leishmaniasis. however, relatively little work has been undertaken concerning the interaction of insect immunity against...

Natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small cationic molecules that display antimicrobial activity against a wide range of bacteria, fungi and viruses. AMPs are multifunctional molecules that have an essential activity in infection and inflammation: they play an important role in the innate immune response, not only as antimicrobial agents, but also as immunomodulating molecules and as an i...

Psoriasis is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Both innate and adaptive immune factors are involved in pathogenesis. Innate immune factors include neutrophils, dendritic cells, mast cells and keratinocytes as well as receptors that they express and cytokines they produce, and the coagulation and complement systems. The adaptive immune factors include mainly the T-lymphocyte subsets and their...

Innate immunity represents the first line of defense against invading pathogens in the respiratory tract. Innate immune cells such as monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, NK cells, and granulocytes contain specific pathogen-recognition molecules which induce the production of cytokines and subsequently activate the adaptive immune response. c-di-GMP is a ubiquitous second messenger that sti...

In response to bacterial and fungal infections in insects and mammals, distinct families of innate immune pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) initiate highly complex intracellular signaling cascades. Those cascades induce a variety of immune functions that restrain the spread of microbes in the host. Insect and mammalian innate immune receptors include molecules that recognize conserved microb...

The brain has a tightly regulated environment that protects neurons and limits inflammation, designated "immune privilege." However, there is not an absolute lack of an immune response. We tested the ability of the brain to initiate an innate immune response to a virus, which was directly injected into the brain parenchyma, and to determine whether this response could limit viral spread. We inj...

Participation of the pineal gland and melatonin in the innate immune response is part of a dynamic and intricate network that acts throughout the inflammatory response, integrating signaling pathways and regulatory processes at the molecular, cellular and organism levels. The pineal gland is a target for pathogen-associated molecular patterns and for inflammatory mediators, and melatonin, which...

Studies in mammals uncovered important signaling roles of nitric oxide (NO), and contributions to innate immunity. Suggestions of conservation led us to explore the involvement of NO in Drosophila innate immunity. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) increased larval sensitivity to gram-negative bacterial infection, and abrogated induction of the antimicrobial peptide Diptericin. NOS was u...