Mating and immunity are intimately linked to fitness. In both vertebrates and invertebrates, recent investigations into mate choice for immunity, tradeoffs between reproduction and immunity, and the relationships between post-mating processes and immune function have revealed that mating and immunity are also intimately linked to each other. Here, we focus on invertebrates and critically examin...

In multiple sclerosis (MS) beneficial effects have been assigned to the interferon (IFN)-I subclass IFN-ß, making its administration a first-line disease-modifying treatment in MS. IFN-I responses can be induced by cyclic-dinucleotide (CDN) triggered activation of Stimulator-of-interferon-genes (STING) and have essential immunomodulatory effects. A beneficial effect of STING activation on...

Animals are presented with continuous energy demands that vary seasonally. For example, during the winter many small mammals and birds inhibit reproduction and growth and funnel energy into thermogenesis or cellular maintenance. As energy shortages become more severe, survival may become compromised because processes such as immune function and thermogenesis are impaired. Thus, there are trade-...

The field of ecological immunology is ultimately seeking to address the question 'Why is there variation in immune function?' Here, we provide experimental evidence that costs of ubiquitous sexual signals are a significant source of variation in immune function. In the mating season, males of the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata drum against dry leaves while wandering around the habitat se...

A major challenge in biology is understanding how organisms partition limited resources among physiological processes. For example, offspring production and self-maintenance are important for fitness and survival, yet these critical processes often compete for resources. While physiological trade-offs between reproduction and immune function have been documented, their regulation remains unclea...

Virus-Encoded Homologs of Cellular Interleukin-10 and Their Control of Host Immune Function Barry Slobedman,#* Peter A. Barry,# Juliet V. Spencer,# Selmir Avdic,# and Allison Abendroth# Centre for Virus Research, Westmead Millennium Institute and University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Center for Comparative Medicine, University of California, Davis, California; Department of Biology, Universi...

There is increasing commercial interest in the production of functional foodstuffs which have health-promoting properties. Over the last five to ten years, significant progress has been made in the identification and characterisation of bovine milk components that can affect the function of the immune system. This review outlines the major components of bovine milk that have been shown to modul...

Immune systems face a daunting control challenge. On the one hand, they need to minimize damage from pathogens, without wasting energy and resources, but on the other must avoid initiating or perpetuating autoimmune responses. Finally, because pathogens interfere with immune function, immune systems must be robust against sabotage. We describe here how these challenges are met by two immune sys...

Until recently, the brain was studied almost exclusively by neuroscientists and the immune system by immunologists, fuelling the notion that these systems represented two isolated entities. However, as more data suggest an important role of the immune system in regulating the progression of brain aging and neurodegenerative disease, it has become clear that the crosstalk between these systems c...