Role of endosomal Toll-like receptors in pneumococcal pneumonitis

Toll-like receptors belong to the category of innate immunity receptor defined "pattern recognition receptor". These are able to recognize so-called "pathogen associated molecular patterns", molecular components common to many microorganisms. Depending on their cellular location, toll-like receptors are divided into two categories: membrane TLRs and endosomal TLRs. S. pneumoniae is the most common cause of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia in adults. Pneumococcus can caus lethal diseases and pneumococcal infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide today. Little it's known about the role of endosomal TLRs during pneumococcal infections. We took advantage of the avaiability of multiple mouse strains with defects in TLR pathways in our laboratory and undertook sistematic studies to compare the role of individual TLR.