Toll like receptors and chemokine receptors: 2 interconnected arms of the innate immune response.

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When we are infected by a virus, or a bacteria, or a parasite, we mount specialised responses called immune responses. At the start of this process, the first thing we have to be able to do is to register the fact that we have been infected. This is achieved using specialised molecules called Toll Like Receptors, which sense the infecting agents and start to initiate an immune response. We have a number of Toll Like Receptors which are specialised in recognising different types of invading organisms. One of the ways in which Toll Like Receptors initiate the immune response is by inducing the synthesis of a different class of molecules called chemokines which are essential in helping to get white blood cells to the infected sites. The white blood cells are important in helping to start the process of destruction of the invading organisms and this results in inflammation developing around the infected sites. Eventually we mount a full immune response to the invading organism and, all being well, this will ensure its removal from our body. We are interested in how the Toll Like Receptor and Chemokine families interact to coordinate our response to infection. Understanding this interaction is central to our understanding of our response to invading organisms and will provide invaluable data that may help us to improve our responses to such agents.