Signaling Pathway in the Innate Immune System Revealed

The toll-like receptors TLR2 and TLR6 mediate innate immunity by recognizing bacterial molecules like lipoteichoic acid (LTA) or lipopeptide (LP). This recognition triggers a complicated signaling cascade that leads to the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and an immune response. However, the toll-like receptors do not act alone, as revealed in the latest work by Scripps Research Professor Bruce Beutler and Research Associate Kasper Hoebe. Animals with the oblivious mutation, which Beutler and Hoebe mapped to the gene CD36, show no immune response to LTA or LP—thus demonstrating that the protein CD36 is one of the mediators of this arm of innate immunity.