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Research Highlights

Nature Genetics 40, 1045 (1 September 2008) | doi:10.1038/ng0908-1045

Research highlights

Resisting infection Mice lacking MyD88, an adaptor protein that acts downstream of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and interleukin-1 receptors (IL-1Rs), are susceptible to a broad range of bacterial, viral and fungal infections, highlighting an essential role for this pathway in host defense. In contrast, Jean-Laurent Casanova and colleagues (Science 321, 691–696; 2008) now report that humans with biallelic loss-of-function mutations in MYD88 are susceptible to a much narrower range of bacterial infections, supporting prior evidence that humans have alternate mechanisms in place to resist most pathogenic challenges.