Title

(1,3)Glucans in Innate Immunity. Mammalian Systems

Document Type

Book Contribution

Publication Date

12-1-2009

Description

This chapter focuses on recent advances in understanding of the mechanisms by which (1,3)lucans modulate innate immunity in mammals, and how modulation of innate immunity with glucan alters host response to disease. The ability of (1,3)----lucans to stimulate innate immunity has been known for more than four decades. However, recent advances in our knowledge in particular the discovery that Dectin is the primary (1,3)----lucan recognition protein have significantly increased our understanding of how (1,3)----lucans modulate innate immunity at the cellular and molecular level. These findings will be important in advancing our knowledge of the role that glucan plays as a pathogen associated molecular pattern and they may also be useful in the development of (1,3)----lucan based immunotherapeutics.

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