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Updated: Jun 26, 2025

Immunometabolic Circuits in Infection for Advancing Host Directed Therapies
Published on: September 13, 2024
Hormesis as an adaptive response to infection
Michael Bauer1, Maria Ermolaeva2, Mervyn Singer3
1Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
Abstract:
Hormesis is a phenomenon whereby low-level stress can improve cellular, organ, or organismal fitness in response to a subsequent similar or other stress insult. Whereas hormesis is thought to contribute to the fitness benefits arising from symbiotic host-microbe interactions, the putative benefits of hormesis in host-pathogen interactions have yet to be explored. Hormetic responses have nonetheless been reported in experimental models of infection, a common feature of which is regulation of host mitochondrial function. We propose that these mitohormetic responses could be harnessed therapeutically to limit the severity of infectious diseases.
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