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Published on: January 12, 2017
Nutrition influences immunity: Diet and host-parasite interactions
Ioannis Eleftherianos1, Wei Zhang2, Gianluca Tettamanti3
1Infection and Innate Immunity Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington DC, 20052, USA.
None:
Nutrition plays a major role in host immune responses and in pathogen resistance. Understanding the network that modulates the relationship between nutrition and immunity remains a challenge. Several pathways govern the direct effects of nutrition on host immunity and the indirect effects mediated by pathogen populations. We note host microbiota also influence the intricate relationships between nutrition and immunity. The purpose of this review is to discuss recent findings from nutritional research in relation to insect immunology. We outline the relationship between diet, immunity, disease, and microbiota in insects and emphasize the significance of utilizing an integrative, multifaceted approach to grasping the influence of nutrition on immunity.
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