Innate immunity is critical in recognition and response to pathogens and tumours, including directing the adaptive immune system
After decades of focus on the mechanisms of adaptive immunity, it has become clear that the many diverse systems of innate immunity play critical roles in recognition and response (including directing the adaptive immune system) to pathogens and tumours, as well as being involved in pathogenesis during autoimmunity. Cambridge has a long history in studying various facets of innate immunity, including the discovery of domains shared between the IL1 beta receptors and drosophila Toll genes, which contributed to the discovery of TLR genes in vertebrates. Currently, such work goes on all over Cambridge, involving the departments of Biochemistry, Medicine, Pathology, and Veterinary Medicine as well as Institutes such as Babraham, the MRC-LMB and the CIMR. The work on innate immunity includes structural and functional studies of molecules and their signalling pathways (TLR, NK cell receptor, HSP, AID and APOBEC, and TRIM gene families), genetic and genomic analyses of genes (particularly in the context of autoimmunity and other multigenic diseases), and escape from the components of innate immunity by pathogens (including viruses, bacteria and parasites).
