Paola Trinidad Villalobos-Gutiérrez

By José Luis Muñoz Carrillo, Jaime Ortega Martín Del Campo, Oscar Gutiérrez Coronado, Paola Trinidad Villalobos Gutiérrez, Juan Francisco Contreras Cordero and Javier Ventura Juárez

Adipose tissue is composed mainly by adipocytes and stromal-vascular fraction, which are composed by different cell types including macrophages. There are three types of adipose tissue: brown (BrAT), white (WAT), and beige (BeAT). BrAT is less abundant and is implicated in lipid oxidation and energy balance; BeAT has the pathway of adaptive thermogenesis, and WAT is endocrine in nature and lipid storage site and is implicated as an endocrine organ that secretes hormones and different molecules. These molecules are pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors, including the adipokines leptin, adiponectin, resistin, and visfatin, as well as cytokines and chemokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, leptin, adiponectin, and others, are involved with the development of adipose tissue inflammation and obesity. This pathological condition, together with other factors such as oxidative stress, may develop insulin resistance and the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Part of the book: Adipose Tissue

By José Luis Muñoz-Carrillo, Juan Francisco Contreras-Cordero, Oscar Gutiérrez-Coronado, Paola Trinidad Villalobos-Gutiérrez, Luis Guillermo Ramos-Gracia and Viridiana Elizabeth Hernández-Reyes

Pathogen infections are recognized by the immune system, which consists of two types of responses: an innate immune response that recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and an antigen-specific adaptive immune response. In both responses, there are several activated cells of the immune system, which play a key role in establishing the environment of cytokines, thus directing their differentiation either suppressing or promoting the immune response. This immune response is crucial against pathogen infections. In this chapter, we will describe the crucial role played by different families of cytokines during activation of the immune system to eliminate infectious pathogens.

Part of the book: Immune Response Activation and Immunomodulation

By José Luis Muñoz-Carrillo, Juan Francisco Contreras-Cordero, Oscar Gutiérrez-Coronado, Paola Trinidad Villalobos-Gutiérrez, Luis Guillermo Ramos-Gracia and Jazmín Monserrat Vargas-Barboza

Dendritic cells (DC) represent an important link between innate and adaptive immunity, which play an important role during the immune response against pathogens. There are several populations and subpopulations of DC, but mainly two subpopulations are characterized: the classic DC specialized in the processing and presentation of the antigen; and the plasmacytoid DC that have a high phagocytic activity and capacity for the production of cytokines. This chapter aims to present the current aspects related to the most relevant characteristics and functions of DC, as well as their role in host defense against infections by viruses, parasites, bacteria, and fungi.

Part of the book: Cell Interaction