Our body harbors and interacts with a diverse community of friendly microbes, which are termed as commensal microbes. In recent years, host-commensal interplay has occupied the limelight in biomedical research due to its immense importance in human health and disease. A delicate balance between the host and commensals is crucial for maintaining physiological and immunological homeostasis in the body. However, alterations in the composition and function of these microbes precipitate a condition referred to as dysbiosis, which not only leads to dysregulation of systemic and mucosal immune responses but also contributes to pathogenesis of several diseases, such as autoimmunity, asthma, allergy, obesity, cancer, and infection. This accentuates the need to better understand how the host and commensals communicate and how dysbiosis predisposes the host to diseases. In this e-Book, there is a collection of 16 research and review/commentary articles, along with an editorial, that shed light on different aspects of host-commensal interactions, including how we can exploit the relationship between the host and commensals for developing prophylactic and/or therapeutic strategies against infectious diseases. The e-Book will be interesting and beneficial for the people belonging to a wide stratum of society, including researchers and students in medical and biological sciences.
Referance:
Sudhanshu Shekhar, Fernanda C Petersen and Xi Yang. Understanding and Exploiting Host-Commensal Interactions to Combat Pathogens. Published in Frontiers in Immunology.
Contact
- Sudhanshu Shekar
- Fernanda C Petersen