Journal of veterinary internal medicine
-
J. Vet. Intern. Med. · May 2012
ReviewThe immunopathology of sepsis: pathogen recognition, systemic inflammation, the compensatory anti-inflammatory response, and regulatory T cells.
Sepsis, the systemic inflammatory response to infection, represents the major cause of death in critically ill veterinary patients. Whereas important advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of this syndrome have been made, much remains to be elucidated. ⋯ More recently, the concept of immunoparalysis in sepsis has also been advanced, together with an increasing recognition of the interplay between regulatory T cells and the innate immune response. However, the heterogeneous nature of this syndrome and the difficulty of modeling it in vitro or in vivo has both frustrated the advancement of new therapies and emphasized the continuing importance of patient-based clinical research in this area of human and veterinary medicine.