Journal
EXPERT OPINION ON THERAPEUTIC TARGETS
Volume 21, Issue 6, Pages 611-626Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/14728222.2017.1323879
Keywords
Immunology; inflammation; inborn errors of metabolism; anti-inflammatory therapy
Categories
Funding
- Lundbeck Foundation
- Danish Multiple Sclerosis Association
- Innovation Fund Denmark
- German Research Foundation (DFG) [MA-5825/1-1]
- DFG Sonderforschungsbereich [1039/1]
- Heisenberg fellowship [DFG-MA-5825-2-1]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Introduction: Amino acids (AAs) support a broad range of functions in living organisms, including several that affect the immune system. The functions of the immune system are affected when free AAs are depleted or in excess because of external factors, such as starvation, or because of genetic factors, such as inborn errors of metabolism.Areas covered: In this review, we discuss the current insights into how free AAs affect immune responses. When possible, we make comparisons to known disease states resulting from inborn errors of metabolism, in which changed levels of AAs or AA metabolites provide insight into the impact of AAs on the human immune system in vivo. We also explore the literature describing how changes in AA levels might provide pharmaceutical targets for safe immunomodulatory treatment.Expert opinion: The impact of free AAs on the immune system is a neglected topic in most immunology textbooks. That neglect is undeserved, because free AAs have both direct and indirect effects on the immune system. Consistent choices of pre-clinical models and better strategies for creating formulations are required to gain clinical impact.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available