Immunological Role of Lung Epithelial Cells

The respiratory tract is one of the main apparatus which is in daily contact with a wide variety of microorganisms, however, only on a few occasions is infection establish because of its innate immune response. Respiratory tract epithelial cells play a very important role in avoiding infectious agen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bruno Rivas-Santiago, Patricia Vieyra-Reyes, Carlos Fernández de Larrea, Zaida Araujo
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Published: Universidad del Zulia,Facultad de Medicina,Departamento de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Tropicales 2006
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Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/5b3907897fe74f0db117ceb8961a1794
Description
Summary:The respiratory tract is one of the main apparatus which is in daily contact with a wide variety of microorganisms, however, only on a few occasions is infection establish because of its innate immune response. Respiratory tract epithelial cells play a very important role in avoiding infectious agent colonization of the lungs, since this kind of cell can recognize microbial molecules through very specialized receptors such as Toll-like. Moreover these cells posses a broad variety of molecules which are related to local immunity. Respiratory tract epithelial cells are capable of producing several chemokines, antimicrobial peptides and other pro-inflammatory molecules.