TLRs/NLRs: Shaping the landscape of host immunity

Abstract

Innate immune system provides the first line of defense against pathogenic organisms. It has a varied and large collection of molecules known as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) which can tackle the pathogens promptly and effectively. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and NOD-like receptors (NLRs) are members of the PRR family that recognize pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and play pivotal roles to mediate defense against infections from bacteria, fungi, virus and various other pathogens. In this review, we discuss the critical roles of TLRs and NLRs in the regulation of host immune-effector functions such as cytokine production, phagosome-lysosome fusion, inflammasome activation, autophagy, antigen presentation, and B and T cell immune responses that are known to be essential for mounting a protective immune response against the pathogens. This review may be helpful to design TLRs/NLRs based immunotherapeutics to control various infections and pathophysiological disorders.

Keywords: NLRs; PRRs; TLRs; regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses; signaling.