Search

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are essential components of the innate immune system. They play an important role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases, especially asthma. Since TLRs significantly orchestrate innate and adaptive immune response, their manipulation has widely been considered as a potential approach to control asthma symptoms. It is well established that helminths have immunoregulatory effects on host immune responses, especially innate immunity. They release bioactive molecules such as excretory-secretory (ES) products manipulating TLRs expression and signaling. Thus, given the promising results derived from preclinical studies, harnessing helminth-derived molecules affecting TLRs can be considered as a potential biological therapy for allergic diseases. Prospectively, the data that are available at present suggest that, in the near future, it is possible that helminth antigens will offer new therapeutic strategies and druggable targets for fighting allergic diseases. This review describes the interactions between helminths and TLRs and discusses the potential possibilities for asthma therapy. In this opinion paper, the authors aimed to review the updated literatures on the interplay between helminths, TLRs, and asthma with a view to proposing helminth-based asthma therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several papers published within the issue including one about the immune suppressing role of major histocompatibility complex (MHC), another regarding polyclonal immunoglobulin therapy and a paper on immune danger sensing through the unfolded protein response (UPR)

The identification of antigen-recognizing receptors in the innate immune system significantly helped us to understand the initiation and regulation of the innate immune response. Dectin-1 was recently identified as the most important receptor for β-glucan. Recognition of β-glucan by dectin-1 triggers effective immune response, including phagocytosis and proinflammatory factor production, to eliminate infecting fungi, which especially benefits immunocompromised patients against opportunistic fungal infection. In addition, dectin-1 is involved in the adaptive immune response as well as autoimmune diseases and immune tolerance. In this paper, we will mainly focus on the characteristics of dectin-1 and its biological role in immune response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue including one on the immune recognition pathways that monitor RNA, one on tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC), and another on the immune dysfunction related to chronic dialysis.