Brown Kelly L, Cosseau Céline, Gardy Jennifer L, Hancock Robert E W
Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Trends Immunol. 2007 Jun;28(6):260-6. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2007.04.005. Epub 2007 Apr 30.
Innate immunity is an ancient form of host defence that is activated rapidly to enable, through a multiplicity of effector mechanisms, defence against a broad spectrum of microbial threats. From this perspective, innate immunity has desirable characteristics of a therapy against infections, and, as a consequence, the innate immune system has become a major target for the development of therapeutics to control inflammation and immune defences. Although advances in the field have come at a furious pace, and several companies are advancing the first Toll-like receptor-based drugs, there remain many unanswered questions about innate immunity and maintaining balance in the immune response. Indeed, innate immunity represents an enormously complex network of molecules, pathways and interactions, controlled by multiple positive and negative regulatory proteins, which are starting to be evaluated in more depth using systems biology approaches. However, accompanying the protective mechanisms is the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such that, if excessive amplification of innate immunity occurs, there is the potential for such syndromes as sepsis and chronic inflammation.
固有免疫是一种古老的宿主防御形式，它能迅速被激活，通过多种效应机制抵御广泛的微生物威胁。从这个角度来看，固有免疫具有抗感染治疗的理想特性，因此，固有免疫系统已成为开发控制炎症和免疫防御疗法的主要靶点。尽管该领域进展迅猛，几家公司也在推进首批基于Toll样受体的药物研发，但关于固有免疫和维持免疫反应平衡仍有许多问题未得到解答。事实上，固有免疫代表了一个由多种正负调节蛋白控制的极其复杂的分子、信号通路和相互作用网络，目前正开始使用系统生物学方法进行更深入的评估。然而，伴随着保护机制的是促炎细胞因子的产生，因此，如果固有免疫过度放大，就有可能引发败血症和慢性炎症等综合征。
