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SLEEPERS. "These new data suggest that we should consider that many or all humans are genetically “immunocompromised” to a greater or lesser extent for specific infections, including infection by viruses that constitute our virome. Thus, a virus present in all of us may cause disease only in those unfortunate enough to have a specific constellation of genes." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL CONTRIBUTION. "The bottom line is that many major diseases that have been associated with inflammation—including cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, allergic diseases, cancer, and autoimmunity—occur in persons that are chronically infected by viruses." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

"THE INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM engages an array of germline-encoded pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) to detect invariant microbial motifs. PRRs are expressed by cells at the front line of defense against infection, including macrophages, monocytes, dendritic cells, neutrophils, and epithelial cells, as well as cells of the adaptive immune system. PRRs include the membrane-bound Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and C-type lectins (CTLs), which scan the extracellular milieu and endosomal compartments for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867410000759 View in LinkedIn

DANGER SENTINEL. "Traditionally, innate immunity has been viewed as the first line of defense discriminating “self” (e.g., host proteins) from “nonself” (e.g., microorganisms). However, emerging literature suggests that innate immunity actually serves as a sophisticated system for sensing signals of “danger,” such as pathogenic microbes or host-derived signals of cellular stress, while remaining unresponsive to nondangerous motifs, such as normal host molecules, dietary antigens, or commensal gut flora." https://lnkd.in/e4CzrPZ View in LinkedIn

THREAT ASSESSMENT. "Multicellular organisms have evolved highly sophisticated mechanisms to detect the presence of pathogens (or injurious agents) and activate the proper defense processes. Not all foreign microorganisms that multicellular organisms come in contact with are necessarily harmful; thus a complex mechanism of recognition of microbes as well as of their “dangerousness” had to be developed during evolution." https://lnkd.in/eNNPn5D View in LinkedIn

IMMUNE DEFENSE. "A major role of the immune system is to maintain homeostatic tissue function. For example, sterile tissue damage that occurs after trauma needs to be detected and repaired. Pathogens that can invade and cause harm to tissues should be eliminated while our commensal microbiome must be tolerated, as it fulfills functions that are required for host survival." https://lnkd.in/eSuQQy4 View in LinkedIn

KNOWING SELF from non-self, and good microbes from bad microbes is a critical event for living cells. Given that non-self entities are continually evolving and changing, this resents an immensely complicated problem for creatures. This is at the heart of the immune response, a critical defense. View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for the next two weekends deals with the topic of inflammation. Inflammation is a key body defense mechanism and trigger of immune responses. Out-of-control inflammation is increasingly considered to be one of the most important causes for a wide range of pathologies, with a tremendously wide number of molecular triggers. View in LinkedIn

TEs AND FLY MUTATIONS. "In fruit flies (D. melanogaster), only 12% of genomic DNA consists of transposable elements, yet more than 50% of de novo mutations arise from these transposable elements." https://lnkd.in/eqiWug7 View in LinkedIn

TE PARADOX. "Retrotransposable element insertions into the human genome are 20 times more numerous, per unit of DNA, when compared to retrotransposable element insertions into the fruit fly genome...Despite this high rate of TE integration in humans, we have very low rates of TE activity." https://lnkd.in/eqiWug7 View in LinkedIn