Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2009;336:1-14. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-00549-7_1.
Mammalian Toll-like receptors (TLRs) were first identified in 1997 based on their homology with Drosophila Toll, which mediates innate immunity in the fly. Over the past eight years, the number of manuscripts describing TLR expression and function in the central nervous system (CNS) has been increasing steadily and expanding beyond their traditional roles in infectious diseases to neurodegenerative disorders and injury. Interest in the field serves as the impetus for this volume in the Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology series entitled Toll-Like Receptors: Roles in Infection and Neuropathology. The first five chapters highlight more traditional roles for TLRs in infectious diseases of the CNS. The second half of the volume discusses recently emerging roles for TLRs in noninfectious neurodegenerative diseases and the challenges faced by these models in identifying endogenous ligands. Several conceptual theories are introduced in various chapters that deal with the dual nature of TLR engagement and whether these signals favor neuroprotective versus neurodegenerative outcomes.
哺乳动物 Toll 样受体 (TLR) 于 1997 年根据其与果蝇 Toll 的同源性首次被鉴定出来，后者在果蝇中介导先天免疫。在过去的八年中，描述 TLR 在中枢神经系统 (CNS) 中表达和功能的论文数量一直在稳步增加，并超出了其在传染病中的传统作用，扩展到神经退行性疾病和损伤。该领域的兴趣为这本 Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology 系列题为 Toll-Like Receptors: Roles in Infection and Neuropathology 的卷提供了动力。前五个章节重点介绍了 TLR 在中枢神经系统感染性疾病中的更传统作用。该卷的后半部分讨论了 TLR 在非传染性神经退行性疾病中的新出现作用，以及这些模型在识别内源性配体方面所面临的挑战。在涉及 TLR 参与的双重性质以及这些信号是否有利于神经保护与神经退行性结果的各个章节中引入了几个概念性理论。
