title: Innate immune sensing and its roots: the story of endotoxin.
abstract: How does the host sense pathogens? Our present concepts grew directly from longstanding efforts to understand infectious disease: how microbes harm the host, what molecules are sensed and, ultimately, the nature of the receptors that the host uses. The discovery of the host sensors--the Toll-like receptors--was rooted in chemical, biological and genetic analyses that centred on a bacterial poison, termed endotoxin.
authors.affiliation: The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. bruce@scripps.edu
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Beutler
authors.forename: Ernst Th
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Rietschel
mesh_terms: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000266:history / Q000276:immunology* / Q000633:toxicity; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000266:history / Q000276:immunology / Q000633:toxicity; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000266:history / Q000276:immunology; D018448:Models, Immunological; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000266:history / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004731:Endotoxins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors