Bacteria-Cytokine Interactions in Health and Disease

Bacteria are best known for causing disease, but the fact that every human contains ten times as many bacteria as he or she does human cells suggests that the interactions between bacteria and higher organisms must be complex and under careful control.;This volume brings together the current literature on bacterial virulence and on cytokines to produce a synthesis that attempts to explain how infectious and commensal bacteria interact with man. In this book an explanation is provided for our failure to respond to our normal microflora. This involves mutual signalling between bacteria and eukaryotic cells via the medium of cytokines. This signalling, if inappropriate may lie at the heart of our pathological response to bacteria. This new synthesis suggests fresh targets for anti-microbial therapy, which is vital in a world that is rapidly running-out of active antibiotics.;The book should appeal to the growing number of scientists who are studying infection, such as microbiologists, immunologists, cytokine biologists, pathologists, parasitologists, virologists and cell biologists.