Glutamine is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Its side chain is similar to that of glutamic acid, except the carboxylic acid group is replaced by an amide. It is classified as a charge-neutral, polar amino acid. It is non-essential and conditionally essential in humans, meaning the body can usually synthesize sufficient amounts of it, but in some instances of stress, the body's demand for glutamine increases, and glutamine must be obtained from the diet. It is encoded by the codons CAA and CAG.
Arginine is the amino acid with the formula (H2N)(HN)CN(H)(CH2)3CH(NH2)CO2H. The molecule features a guanidino group appended to a standard amino acid framework. At physiological pH, the carboxylic acid is deprotonated (−CO2−) and both the amino and guanidino groups are protonated, resulting in a cation. Only the l-arginine (symbol Arg or R) enantiomer is found naturally. Arg residues are common components of proteins. It is encoded by the codons CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG. The guanidine group in arginine is the precursor for the biosynthesis of nitric oxide. Like all amino acids, it is a white, water-soluble solid.
Macrophages are a type of white blood cell of the innate immune system that engulf and digest pathogens, such as cancer cells, microbes, cellular debris, and foreign substances, which do not have proteins that are specific to healthy body cells on their surface. This process is called phagocytosis, which acts to defend the host against infection and injury.
Natural killer cells, also known as NK cells or large granular lymphocytes (LGL), are a type of cytotoxic lymphocyte critical to the innate immune system. They belong to the rapidly expanding family of known innate lymphoid cells (ILC) and represent 5–20% of all circulating lymphocytes in humans. The role of NK cells is analogous to that of cytotoxic T cells in the vertebrate adaptive immune response. NK cells provide rapid responses to virus-infected cell and other intracellular pathogens acting at around 3 days after infection, and respond to tumor formation. Most immune cells detect the antigen presented on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on infected cell surfaces, but NK cells can recognize and kill stressed cells in the absence of antibodies and MHC, allowing for a much faster immune reaction. They were named "natural killers" because of the notion that they do not require activation to kill cells that are missing "self" markers of MHC class I. This role is especially important because harmful cells that are missing MHC I markers cannot be detected and destroyed by other immune cells, such as T lymphocyte cells.
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a class of proteins that play a key role in the innate immune system. They are single-spanning receptors usually expressed on sentinel cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells, that recognize structurally conserved molecules derived from microbes. Once these microbes have reached physical barriers such as the skin or intestinal tract mucosa, they are recognized by TLRs, which activate immune cell responses. The TLRs include TLR1, TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR6, TLR7, TLR8, TLR9, TLR10, TLR11, TLR12, and TLR13. Humans lack genes for TLR11, TLR12 and TLR13 and mice lack a functional gene for TLR10. The receptors TLR1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR5, TLR6, and TLR10 are located on the cell membrane, whereas TLR3, TLR7, TLR8, and TLR9 are located in intracellular vesicles.
Paneth cells are cells in the small intestine epithelium, alongside goblet cells, enterocytes, and enteroendocrine cells. Some can also be found in the cecum and appendix. They are located below the intestinal stem cells in the intestinal glands and the large eosinophilic refractile granules that occupy most of their cytoplasm.
A glucan is a polysaccharide derived from D-glucose, linked by glycosidic bonds. Glucans are noted in two forms: alpha glucans and beta glucans. Many beta-glucans are medically important. They represent a drug target for antifungal medications of the echinocandin class.
IRAK-4, in the IRAK family, is a protein kinase involved in signaling innate immune responses from Toll-like receptors. It also supports signaling from T-cell receptors. IRAK4 contains domain structures which are similar to those of IRAK1, IRAK2, IRAKM and Pelle. IRAK4 is unique compared to IRAK1, IRAK2 and IRAKM in that it functions upstream of the other IRAKs, but is more similar to Pelle in this trait. IRAK4 has important clinical applications.
Lymphotoxin is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily of cytokines, whose members are responsible for regulating the growth and function of lymphocytes and are expressed by a wide variety of cells in the body.
Toll-like receptor 2 also known as TLR2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TLR2 gene. TLR2 has also been designated as CD282. TLR2 is one of the toll-like receptors and plays a role in the immune system. TLR2 is a membrane protein, a receptor, which is expressed on the surface of certain cells and recognizes foreign substances and passes on appropriate signals to the cells of the immune system.
Beta-glucans, β-glucans comprise a group of β-D-glucose polysaccharides (glucans) naturally occurring in the cell walls of cereals, bacteria, and fungi, with significantly differing physicochemical properties dependent on source. Typically, β-glucans form a linear backbone with 1–3 β-glycosidic bonds but vary with respect to molecular mass, solubility, viscosity, branching structure, and gelation properties, causing diverse physiological effects in animals.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a signaling sphingolipid, also known as lysosphingolipid. It is also referred to as a bioactive lipid mediator. Sphingolipids at large form a class of lipids characterized by a particular aliphatic aminoalcohol, which is sphingosine.
In immunology, an adjuvant is a substance that increases or modulates the immune response to a vaccine. The word "adjuvant" comes from the Latin word adiuvare, meaning to help or aid. "An immunologic adjuvant is defined as any substance that acts to accelerate, prolong, or enhance antigen-specific immune responses when used in combination with specific vaccine antigens."
Toll-like receptor 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TLR4 gene. TLR4 is a transmembrane protein, member of the toll-like receptor family, which belongs to the pattern recognition receptor (PRR) family. Its activation leads to an intracellular signaling pathway NF-κB and inflammatory cytokine production which is responsible for activating the innate immune system.
Tyrosine-protein kinase JAK3 is a tyrosine kinase enzyme that in humans is encoded by the JAK3 gene.
Lentinan is a polysaccharide isolated from the fruit body of shiitake mushroom.
Lymphotoxin-alpha (LT-α) formerly known as tumor necrosis factor-beta (TNF-β) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LTA gene. Belonging to the hematopoietic cell line, LT-α exhibits anti-proliferative activity and causes the cellular destruction of tumor cell lines. As a cytotoxic protein, LT-α performs a variety of important roles in immune regulation depending on the form that it is secreted as. Unlike other members of the TNF superfamily, LT-α is only found as a soluble homotrimer, when found at the cell surface it is found only as a heterotrimer with LTβ.
Peptidoglycan recognition protein 2(PGLYRP2) is an enzyme, N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase (NAMLAA), that hydrolyzes bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan and is encoded by the PGLYRP2 gene.
OX-2 membrane glycoprotein, also named CD200 is a human protein encoded by the CD200 gene. CD200 gene is in human located on chromosome 3 in proximity to genes encoding other B7 proteins CD80/CD86. In mice CD200 gene is on chromosome 16.
Owais Mohammad is an Indian immunologist, nano-technologist and a professor at the interdisciplinary biotechnology unit of the Aligarh Muslim University. Known for his studies on nanotechnology-based vaccine and drug delivery, Owais is the author of two books, Trypanothione reductase: a potential anti-leishmanial drug target and Antimicrobial properties of clove oil: clove oils as antimicrobial agent. He has also co-edited two books, Modern Phytomedicine: Turning Medicinal Plants into Drugs and Combating Fungal Infections: Problems and Remedy, and has contributed chapters. His studies have also been documented by way of a number of articles and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 60 of them. He is a recipient of the Rashtriya Gaurav Award of the India International Friendship Society. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2007. His work has been displayed on cover pages of FEMS Immunol. Med Microbiology for all the issues of Year 2006 and Molecular Medicine in May–June issue of Year 2007.
