Ebook: The Biology and Pathology of Innate Immunity Mechanisms

In recent years increased scientific attention has been given to immediate defense mechanisms based on non-clonal recognition of microbial components. These mechanisms constitute the innate immunity arm of the body s defense. Identification of pathogens by these mechanisms involves primarily receptors recognizing sugar moieties of various microorganisms. Innate immunity based mechanisms are essential for the existence of multicellular organisms. They are evolutionarily conserved and designed to provide immediate protection against microbial pathogens to eradicate infection. Activation of innate immunity is crucial for transition to specific immunity and for its orientation, and to assist the specific immune response in the recognition of pathogens and their destruction. Innate immunity is regularly involved in the arrest of bacterial, mycotic, viral and parasitic infections, giving the specific immune response time to become effective. It becomes critically essential in immunocompromised patients who fail to mount specific immune responses due to congenital or acquired immunodeficiencies as a result of chemotherapy, dialysis, immunosuppressive drugs, or HIV infection. The Innate Immunity arsenal constitutes polymorphonuclear and mononuclear phagocytes, mast cells, the complement system, Natural Killer cells, antimicrobial peptides, and presumably a subset of T lymphocytes with TCRl receptors.

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This book is the proceedings of the Bathsheva de Rothschild Seminar on Innate Immunity, held on October 10-15, 1999, in Zichron Yaakov, Israel. In recent years, scientific attention has focused increasingly on immediate defense mechanisms based on non-clonal recognition of microbial components. These mechanisms constitute the innate immunity arm of the body's defense. Identification of pathogens by these mechanisms primarily involves receptors recognizing sugar moieties of various microorganisms. This major new volume describes the recent discoveries in this field, including the implications of the recognition of specific components of the innate immunity arsenal as the main cause of host susceptibility to particular types of infections, and the development of new agents to combat infections using newly identified anti-microbial peptides. There is also coverage of the major themes, such as (i) the role of innate immune responses as a first-line defense against microbial infection and tumor cells; (ii) the cellular and molecular basis of the function of cells and molecules involved in innate immunity; (iii) the role of innate immunity in the immunocompromised host; and (iv) the interactions between innate immunity components and clonal immune response.