Structure
Immune system
The cells, tissues and molecules that defend the body against infection.
Innate immunity
The fast, built-in first line of defense. Toll-like receptors recognize features shared by many microbes.Source: Lemaitre et al., 1996Source: Medzhitov et al., 1997Source: Poltorak et al., 1998
Step 2 of 7ReadingProcess
How Innate immunity connects
Innate immunity is found in
Innate immunity includes
Structure
Dendritic cells
A cell type identified in 1973 that captures antigens and presents them to T cells, linking innate and adaptive immunity.
Innate immunity is related to
Organism or group
Bacteria
Small single-celled organisms without a nucleus, found almost everywhere on Earth. Most bacteria in the human body are harmless, and some are helpful.
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Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
The dorsoventral regulatory gene cassette spätzle/Toll/cactus controls the potent antifungal response in Drosophila adults (opens the original in a new tab)
Lemaitre B, Nicolas E, Michaut L, et al. (1996). Cell 86:973-983.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchA human homologue of the Drosophila Toll protein signals activation of adaptive immunity (opens the original in a new tab)
Medzhitov R, Preston-Hurlburt P, Janeway CA Jr (1997). Nature 388:394-397.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchDefective LPS signaling in C3H/HeJ and C57BL/10ScCr mice: mutations in Tlr4 gene (opens the original in a new tab)
Poltorak A, He X, Smirnova I, et al. (1998). Science 282:2085-2088.
Peer-reviewedPrimary research