Hazardous and unhealthy environmental changes are rising continuously in modern society due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. In addition to environmental contamination, interest on electromagnetic wave(EMF) is also increasing. EMF is reported in a lot of papers to cause DNA damage, infertility, oxidative stress, cell cycle change, apoptosis, gene expression abnormality, tumorigenesi...

Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 is essential for the defense against infection with gram-negative pathogens, but reduced TLR4 expression has not been linked to altered disease susceptibility in humans. In mice, Tlr4 controls the mucosal response to Escherichia coli urinary tract infections. Inactivation of mouse Tlr4 causes an asymptomatic carrier state resembling asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU). The...

The immune system in the gastrointestinal tract plays a crucial role in the control of infection, as it constitutes the first line of defense against mucosal pathogens. The attractive features of oral immunization have led to the exploration of a variety of oral delivery systems. However, none of these oral delivery systems have been applied to existing commercial vaccines. To overcome this, a ...

Tolerance to food antigens induced via the gut ("oral tolerance") appears to be a rather robust adaptive immune mechanism. However, the neonatal period is particularly critical in terms of mucosal defense, with regard to infections and priming for allergic disease. This is so because the intestinal barrier function provided by secretory antibodies, as well as the immunoregulatory network, is po...

Antimicrobial proteins comprise a significant component of the acute innate immune response to infection. They are induced by pattern recognition receptors as well as by cytokines of the innate and adaptive immune pathways and play important roles in infection control and immunomodulatory homeostasis. Lipocalin 2 (siderocalin, NGAL, 24p3), a siderophore-binding antimicrobial protein, is critica...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a gaseous meditator that has various physiological and pathophysiological roles in the body. It has been shown to be an important mediator of gastrointestinal (GI) mucosal defense and contributes significantly to repair of damage and resolution of inflammation. Synthesis of H2S increases markedly after mucosal injury, and inhibition of H2S in such circumstances leads t...