Authors: Ponticelli C
Abstract
For many years, acute rejection has been considered as a typical response of the adaptive immunity system. However, recent investigations have revealed a critical role for innate immunity as a pivotal trigger in adaptive immune responses. Danger signals released by cells damaged or killed by injury or disease may be intercepted by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) that alarm the dendritic cells (DCs) through the activation of transcription factors. In the presence of an inflammatory milieu created by other components of the innate immunity, DCs become mature and present the antigen to naïve T cells. The activation of T cells requires both a signal engendered by the presentation of the antigen to the T cell receptor and costimulatory signals generated by the...