Bioactive Molecules for Immunology Research

The immune system is a complex network to detect and defend against non-self pathogenic agents, such as disease-causing viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms. Various signaling pathways contribute to the recognition of invading microorganisms and toxins, and the subsequent cellular responses to remove pathogens. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize molecular patterns that are broadly shared by pathogens but not by host molecules. TLR activation can signal cytokines, such as interleukin-1 (IL-1), to trigger inflammation, can signal for the pathogen to be digested, or can signal for the infected cell to undergo apoptosis. Inflammation is typically a coordinated series of events that resolves the original infection and leads to establishment of immune memory through the adaptive immune system. The adaptive immune system response begins with recognition of a specific non-self target, or antigen, by lymphocytes. T cells recognize foreign antigens and transduce extracellular signals by initiating intracellular signaling pathways that will induce apoptosis of infected cells, activate macrophages and NK cells to destroy pathogens, and induce production of other cell signaling molecules (cytokines) to activate other immune responses.

The immune system is essential for protection from and clearance of diseases such as influenza, AIDS, malaria, and other viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases. However, dysregulation of the immune system can lead to autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system is incorrectly activated in response to host proteins. Autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, and type 1 diabetes. Other disorders, including some cancers, are also thought to have autoimmune elements. An understanding of the immune system is essential for developing therapeutic treatments for human diseases. We understand it is essential to ensure your target is the right target in translational research. We offer agonists, antagonists, modulators and other bioactive small molecules for immune system signaling target identification and validation, as well as a variety of antibiotics, antivirals, and antifungals. A selection of these tools for immunology research is shown below.