Sepsis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sepsis, including details on septicemia, diagnosis, symptoms, treatment.

Pivotal advance: endogenous pathway to SIRS, sepsis, and related conditions.

Tang AH, Brunn GJ, Cascalho M, Platt JL

Transplantation Biology Program, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.

TLRs are usually thought to recognize substances produced by microorganisms and thus, to initiate host defenses. This concept, however, fails to explain some functions of this family of receptors. Recognition of endogenous substances may explain the broader functions of TLRs in physiology and disease. Activation of TLRs by endogenous substances necessitates vigorous control of the function of the receptors. This communication will summarize a line of research, which points to an endogenous agonist for TLR4 and a putative mechanism for controlling the function of that receptor.

Published 30 July 2007 in J Leukoc Biol, 82(2): 282-5.
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