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Innate immune memory: a paradigm shift in understanding host defense

Nature Immunology volume 16, pages 675–679 (2015)Cite this article

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Researchers gathered at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridge, for the first Innate Immune Memory Conference dedicated to the adaptive characteristics of innate immunity, to further the understanding of this newly described immunological process that probably has a central role in host defense and inflammation.

Since the discovery of the clonal selection theory and the description of antigen recognition and presentation, immunologists have traditionally divided immune responses into innate and adaptive categories. The cells of the innate immune system, such as granulocytes, monocytes, macrophages or innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), including natural killer (NK) cells, are activated within minutes of an infection, and they are able to fight a broad range of pathogens efficiently. However, the consensus until recently was that they mount nonspecific responses and they are not able to confer immunological memory on their own. In contrast, the adaptive T cell– or B cell–dependent immune responses are antigen specific1 and they often provide lifelong protection against re-infection2.

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Figure 1

Marina Corral Spence/Nature Publishing Group

Figure 2: Immune memory responses in vertebrates comprise both conventional T cell memory responses (a) and innate immune memory dependent on myeloid cells, NK cells and innate lymphocyte populations such as NKT cells, γβ T cells and ILCs (b).

Marina Corral Spence/Nature Publishing Group

Figure 3: Integration of immunological and metabolic pathways in trained monocytes, which lead to a shift toward aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effects), as well as epigenetic changes at the level of histone methylation and acetylation.

Marina Corral Spence/Nature Publishing Group

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mihai G. Netea is in the Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.,

    Mihai G Netea

  2. the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Eicke Latz is with the Institute of Innate Immunity, Bonn University, Bonn, Germany, UMass Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany.,

    Eicke Latz

  3. Kingston H. G. Mills and Luke A.J. O'Neill are in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.,

    Kingston H G Mills & Luke A J O'Neill

Authors
  1. Mihai G Netea
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  2. Eicke Latz
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  4. Luke A J O'Neill
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Correspondence to Mihai G Netea.

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Netea, M., Latz, E., Mills, K. et al. Innate immune memory: a paradigm shift in understanding host defense. Nat Immunol 16, 675–679 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3178

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