Alzheimer's disease: the potential therapeutic role of the natural antibiotic amyloid-p peptide

摘要

Innate immunity is the oldest arm of host defense. Among invertebrates, innate immunity remains the primary defense against infection. Higher organisms have evolved additional adaptive immune responses but the pathways of innate immunity continue to play essential protective roles, including early recognition of infection in tissues, direct inhibition of pathogens through release of antimicrobial molecules, phagocytic removal of cellular debris and foreign materials by leukocytes, recruitment of immune cells to sites of infection through the release of cytokines, alerting adaptive immunity to potential threats through the complement cascade and antigen presentation, and providing chemical and physical barriers to infectious agents [l]. While innate immune responses are rapid and provide immediate host protection they are generic in that the same protective pathways are activated with widely differing immune challenges.