Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Aug:29:1-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2014.02.006. Epub 2014 Mar 12.

Innate immune memory: towards a better understanding of host defense mechanisms

Jessica Quintin  1 , Shih-Chin Cheng  1 , Jos W M van der Meer  1 , Mihai G Netea  2
Affiliations
Review

Innate immune memory: towards a better understanding of host defense mechanisms

Jessica Quintin et al. Curr Opin Immunol. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Innate immunity is classically defined as unable to build up immunological memory. Recently however, the assumption of the lack of immunological memory within innate immune responses has been reconsidered. Plants and invertebrates lacking adaptive immune system can be protected against secondary infections. It has been shown that mammals can build cross-protection to secondary infections independently of T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated that innate immune cells such as NK cells and monocytes can display adaptive characteristics, a novel concept for which the term trained immunity has been proposed. Several mechanisms are involved in mediating innate immune memory, among which epigenetic histone modifications and modulation of recognition receptors on the surface of innate immune cells are likely to play a central role.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources