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Dynamics of host defense: the view at the front lines

Relatively few studies have used live tissue microscopy to evaluate how the immune system responds to pathogens. In this commentary we discuss the challenges of imaging infectious processes and the questions that can be addressed with these dynamic approaches.

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Figure 1: Intravital microscopy in the mouse.
Figure 2: Imaging the liver during listeriosis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T.O. Cameron, J. Huang and S. Vardhana for critical reading of this manuscript; T.O. Cameron (Fig. 2a–c), J. Kim (Fig. 1f) and M.G. Ruocco (Fig. 1c) for contributions of images; and R.P. Novick, J. Ernst, W.B. Gan, E. Pamer, D. Portnoy, R. Germain and M. Nussenzweig for contributions of ideas. Supported by the US National Institutes of Health (AI55037 and AI71195 to M.L.D., DK78153 to P.V. and CA09161 to J.C.W.).

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Velázquez, P., Waite, J. & Dustin, M. Dynamics of host defense: the view at the front lines. Nat Immunol 8, 1153–1157 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1520

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