TY - JOUR
T1 - Immunomodulators as an antimicrobial tool
AU - Pirofski, Liise anne
AU - Casadevall, Arturo
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health AI33580 (LP), AI44374 (LP), AI45459 (LP), AI033142 (AC), AI033774 (AC), and HL059842 (AC).
PY - 2006/10
Y1 - 2006/10
N2 - The spectrum of infectious diseases has shifted in the past 50 years to include those caused by microbes that cause disease predominantly in immunocompromised individuals. This phenomenon has underscored the dependence of microbial virulence on the immune status of the host. The limited efficacy of the available antimicrobial armamentarium in immunocompromised individuals, combined with increasing resistance to these agents, has led to an urgent need for new therapies for infectious diseases. Immunomodulation represents a novel approach to antimicrobial therapy that depends on bolstering host immunity, rather than direct antimicrobial activity. Immunomodulators can be divided into those that are specific to pathogens (pathogen-specific) and those that are not specific to pathogens (non-specific). However, to date only a few immunomodulators have been evaluated for their efficacy as antimicrobial tools.
AB - The spectrum of infectious diseases has shifted in the past 50 years to include those caused by microbes that cause disease predominantly in immunocompromised individuals. This phenomenon has underscored the dependence of microbial virulence on the immune status of the host. The limited efficacy of the available antimicrobial armamentarium in immunocompromised individuals, combined with increasing resistance to these agents, has led to an urgent need for new therapies for infectious diseases. Immunomodulation represents a novel approach to antimicrobial therapy that depends on bolstering host immunity, rather than direct antimicrobial activity. Immunomodulators can be divided into those that are specific to pathogens (pathogen-specific) and those that are not specific to pathogens (non-specific). However, to date only a few immunomodulators have been evaluated for their efficacy as antimicrobial tools.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.mib.2006.08.004
DO - 10.1016/j.mib.2006.08.004
M3 - Review article
C2 - 16931122
AN - SCOPUS:33748808683
SN - 1369-5274
VL - 9
SP - 489
EP - 495
JO - Current Opinion in Microbiology
JF - Current Opinion in Microbiology
IS - 5
ER -