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You are only part human. In some ways, you are as much bacteria as you are mammal, and in some ways bacteria make up far more of you than your own familiar cells and genes! It is becoming increasingly apparent that the microbes that live inside you, in your gut and on your skin, have a large bearing on how likely you are to become ill, how much weight you carry and even your day-to-day mood. These effects are a result of communication between these microbes and the cells that live in close contact with them, a series of interactive processes we are just beginning to understand. A huge proportion of your microbial passengers live in your gut, and it is here that a vital interaction mediated by the gut innate immune system. This article briefly describes how we are getting a bett …

The Immune System The immune system is a host defence system comprising many biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease. In order to function well, the immune system must detect a wide variety of agents, known as pathogens which can range from viruses to parasitic worms, and must have the ability to distinguish them from the host's healthy tissue. In most species the immune system consists of an innate and an adaptive immune response. The innate immune response is stimulated when a pathogen successfully enters the host. It is the first line of defence and is required for the elimination of the pathogen from the host. Some of the key players in the innate immune response are macrophages, ne …

The Complement System Function Gone are the days when the complement system was considered solely a companion of its impressive adaptive immune system counterpart. Research in recent decades has demonstrated that complement cascade components play intricate roles in processes spanning from traditional innate defence to angiogenesis, bone metabolism and neural development. These ultimately homeostatic activities demonstrate that the complement system as a whole adopts a key role in immune surveillance (Ricklin et al., 2010; Reis et al., 2018). What was once thought to be a single protein responsible for enhancing antibody-mediated lysis of target cells is now recognized as a diverse system. Our understanding of complement has progressed from the s …

The immune system is the body’s main defence against infection. In order to function properly, the immune system must be able to detect and protect against infinite agents such as pathogens including viruses and bacteria and unhealthy or infected cells. In order to do this, various cells are required to carry out specific functions. In the article below, an overview of neutrophils will be discussed including their function and development. What is a Neutrophil? Neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cell in the circulation are regarded as the first line of defence of the innate immune system. They are characterised by their multi-lobed shape of their nucleus (Rosales, 2018). They are produced in the bone mar …

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE “GREEN” EVOLUTION OF OXYGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE WITHIN OUR ATMOSPHERE Million years ago carbon dioxide (CO2) levels used to be considerably higher compared to the measured levels today (Allègre and Schneider, 1994) (see Figure 1). Notably, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii repeatedly measured unprecedented inclines of CO2 levels over the last years with recent peaks of more than 400 ppm (i.e., atmospheric concentrations of 0.04%) (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2019). window.SHOGUN_IMAGE_ELEMENTS = window.SHOGUN_IMAGE_ELEMENTS || new Array(); window.SHOGUN_IMAGE_ELEMENTS.push({ hoverImage: '', uuid: 's-371a5617-6866-456a-8f09-92921f396496' }) Figure 1. …

Dr. Melissa Conroy, TTMI I am an immunologist and senior research fellow in the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Group, Department of Surgery at Trinity College Dublin. My research is focused on developing novel immunotherapies in the space of obesity, cancer and liver disease with a specific focus on lymphocyte trafficking and chemokine networks. My research examines how we can target the underlying immune processes in pathological inflammation in obesity, cancer and liver disease. My PhD was focused on immune responses to chronic hepatitis virus infection and identified novel functions of natural killer cells and innate T cells in viral hepatitis. More recently, my research focus has shifted to pathologies associated with the burgeoning gl …

Katherine Edwards, PhD Student, Queen’s University Belfast Cytokines play a vital role in immune responses enabling cross-talk between different cell types and inducing activation, differentiation, proliferation and cell migration by altering gene expression in target cell types. There are a wide variety of cytokines each with varying roles which when produced in different combinations can lead to various outcomes. Cytokines can promote inflammation and aid migration of effector immune cells to sites of infection or damage where these cells then work as a team to combat the problem. Cytokines can also be anti-inflammatory – these cytokines are released when the cause of inflammation has been resolved and they alter the phenotype of immune cells to …

Traumatic injuries & death When I ask people what the leading cause of death is in the United States in people age 44 and under, they generally reply saying cancer. It wouldn’t be illogical to think that this is the answer, but it would be incorrect. In fact, unintentional traumatic injuries are responsible for more deaths in these age groups than any other cause such as homicide, cancer or heart disease. Accidental traumatic injury can be categorized into several groups such as blunt-force trauma, hemorrhage, crush injuries, bone fractures, radiation injury and any of these in combination. These types of injuries happen in traumatic scenarios like motor vehicle accidents, fires, shootings, stabbings, accidental falls and so on. …

Laura Menke PhD candidate, Queen Mary University of London Inflammation vs. Resolution Atherothrombosis is the leading cause of death worldwide and can be linked to the formation of blood clots in the vascular system. Depending on the location of clot formation, atherothrombosis can stimulate a variety of disease pathologies such as stroke, heart infarct and even leg ischemia, which makes research regarding prevention and treatment of this disease so important. Epidemiological studies indicate that in our society with increased age and enhanced obesity and diabetes prevalence, the risk of vascular diseases will further increase and reach epidemic proportions in the coming decades 1. Inflammation: A Hallmark …

Interferons (IFNs) are a group of signalling proteins that are produced and released from cells in response to viral infection and other stimuli such as normal and tumour cell survival and death. IFNs interact with specific cellular receptors, thereby promoting production of secondary messengers which leads to the expression of antiviral and immune modulatory genes. There are three groups of IFNs, Type I IFNs, Type II IFNs and Type III IFNs. Type I IFNs include IFN-alpha, -beta, -omega, -kappa and IFN-zeta. These are essential for regulating the immune response to viral infections. The Type II IFN group only includes IFN-gamma. IFN-gamma is a versatile cytokine that plays an essential role in halting proliferation of cells, immunoregulation and its pro-inflammatory effects for v …

By Charlotte O'Donnell PhD The genes of the IL-36 family members are located in a cluster on chromosome 2 [1]. All three activating ligands, IL-36α, IL-36β and IL-36γ share the classic IL-1 β-trefoil structure, and lack a signal peptide. IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ lack a signal sequence, and thus cannot be transported to the endoplasmic reticulum. Similar to IL-1β and IL-18, the N-terminus must be cleaved for full agonist or antagonist bioactivity of each of the IL-36 cytokines. The protease responsible for this cleavage has not yet been elucidated. It is not thought to be a caspase as the site does not resemble a caspase cleavage site [2]. These three agonists induce proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines and other stimulatory molecules, thus prom …