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The birth of innate immunity
Author(s) -
Gallo Richard L.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.108
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0625
pISSN - 0906-6705
DOI - 10.1111/exd.12197
Subject(s) - innate immune system , immunity , immunology , antimicrobial , biology , bone marrow , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology
Modern immunology has seen an apparent revolution with the recognition that human immune defense is not only the responsibility of bone marrow‐derived leucocytes, but also dependent on a coordinated network of many cell types including epithelial cells, fibroblasts and neural elements. This classic paper by Alexander Fleming and V.D. Allison (British J of Exp Path, 111, 1922, 252) was largely forgotten for 75 years and describes the discovery that epithelia produce a protein with direct antimicrobial activity. Thus, this paper represents the birth of the field now referred to as innate immunity and first describes an antimicrobial protein ( AMP ).