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TLRs play good cop, bad cop in the lung

Nature Medicine volume 11, pages 1161–1162 (2005)Cite this article

Toll-like receptors act as mediators of injury or repair in the inflamed lung, and the balance depends on the integrity of a component of the extracellular matrix (pages 1173–1179).

Inflammation, like most biological processes, has a good side and a bad side. Understanding the basis for the bad side has been a major area of research, as dysregulation of the inflammatory process forms the basis of many diseases. Acute inflammation underlies conditions such as septic shock and acute respiratory distress syndrome, whereas chronic inflammation is a key feature of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. But inflammation also counteracts infection, and has a role in repair after tissue injury. This 'good' aspect of inflammation has received less attention.

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Figure 1: Jiang et al. found that TLR2 and TLR4 act as key sensors of the extracellular matrix component hyaluronan in the lung.

Katie Ris

References

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  1. School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College, Dublin, 2, Ireland

    Luke A J O'Neill

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  1. Luke A J O'Neill
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O'Neill, L. TLRs play good cop, bad cop in the lung. Nat Med 11, 1161–1162 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1105-1161

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1105-1161

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